


Draconic Savior

by Jjosiah98



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astrid and Stoick Are Slightly Insane, Attempted Suicide, Bad Parent Stoick the Vast, Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon), Dragons love Hiccup, Gets Better As Time Goes On, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Needs a Hug, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Dragons, Mental Abuse, My First Fanfic, Other, Physical Abuse, Protective Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Suicidal Thoughts, This Is Not A Nice Story To Start, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 69,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24175237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jjosiah98/pseuds/Jjosiah98
Summary: Hiccup didn't ask to be different. He didn't ask to be the scape goat. And he definitely didn't ask to be connected to the dragons somehow. After finding the legendary Night Fury tied up in the woods, he finds all the things he was missing in his life along with it. Can he live up to his destiny? Or will he finally succumb to the pressure of the place that should have been his home?
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Dragons, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Comments: 41
Kudos: 208





	1. This is Berk, A Place of Misery

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, first Fanfic I'm posting for the public eye. Constructive Criticism welcome and probably needed. If you recognize any scenes in this, it's most likely because this story is based off a bunch of different fanfics I've read. I can't remember the names of them but any credit needed should go where it belongs. This story also contains a few OCs of mine, but they aren't the primary focus. Hiccup and Toothless will be the main people you see in this (as it should be). A few things to note: The Nest Hunt in this takes about two months. On the hunt after getting decimated, the people that went also got shipwrecked on the way back, and couldn't leave for a long time. This gives Hiccup time to properly bond with Toothless and learn what he needs to learn. Dragon Raids happen on Berk one every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks, and Toothless gets shot down on the last one of the year, which is around mid-August, meaning the Raids ended early that year. All the teens also don't have canonical ages. My OC is the oldest at 16, then Astrid and Snotlout at 15, the Twins at 14, and Fishlegs and Hiccup at 13, in that order. Dragon Training Classes happen every 2-3 days, and won't stop until the Nest Hunt returns. Toothless is also the same age as Hiccup. You'll know what language is being used when it comes up.

(Hiccup POV)

This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. Charming description, I know, but for me, that's what this place is. My name is Hiccup. Great name, right? My full name is even better: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. They say a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. I think my parents just hated me.

Tonight is another one of those lovely nights that you wake up to the sound of screaming and fire. See, this miserable hunk of rock suffers from one main problem. All you have to do is open your door, then slam it shut to avoid the liquid fire shot at you. That would be courtesy of the fire-breathing reptiles that seem to love our island. Otherwise known as Dragons. Now, this is the hard part of my night. Do I stay and risk burning to death in a burning building and get yelled at for not doing my job, or do I go do my job and get yelled at for going outside. Decisions, decisions. Seeing the roof collapse, I decide to go do my job.

As soon as I step outside the door, I get lovely greetings from my neighbors. Here are just a few of the more pleasant ones:

"What are you doing here?!"

"Get out of here!"

"Get back inside!"

Charming. Truly. As I run, I see a dragon light the path ahead of me on fire. I stop before I run into it, but still get yanked back by the neck of my tunic.

" _WHAT_ do you think you're doin' outside?! Get back to the house!"

Then I get thrown to the closest building that doesn't happen to be on fire and in the wrong direction. The monster of a man that grabbed me was Stoick the Vast, Chief of the tribe. Some people say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragons head clean off it's shoulders. One may be tempted to believe it due to this mans massive size, but not me. First, that is just plain impossible. No baby is strong enough and smart enough to do that. Second, I heard some people say that it was a dragon toy that he beheaded. He also happens to be the worst father in history, who unfortunately is also my father. You'll see why later.

I finally make it through the randomized chaos that was the village to make it to the forge.

"Ah, nice of you to show up! I thought you'd been carried off."

"Eh, that wouldn't be so bad..." I mumble.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

That would be Gobber the Belch, town blacksmith. I've been his apprentice since I was five, and have enjoyed working here. It's one of the few places that I consider safe in this place. I throw on my apron and re-shelve some of Gobber's prosthetic arms, before opening the service window and carrying the large stack of weapons that magically appeared there to the forge. Gobber and I have a nice relationship. I think of him as something like an Uncle, since I've known and worked with him most of my life. He's one of the few people who are nice to me.

Looking out the window, I see the other teens my age run past, buckets of water in hand. They charge at a house that was recently set on fire and start dousing the flames. Then a dragon comes by and relights it, both undoing their work and making the damage worse.

The first in the group I see is Fishlegs Ingerman. Big, bulky, and timid. Of the teens, he's one of the most knowledgeable and intelligent, preferring to read a book than pick a fight. The only reason he's really accepted by the others is his Viking-like stature, being the second tallest in the group, with a large build (which I'm pretty sure is mostly fat). While he is nice to me, he doesn't help me either, so I see him as an acquaintance.

Next up is Snotlout Jorgenson. Also big and bulky, but also extremely stupid. A perfect example of a Viking. Strong, stupid, and smelling like an outhouse. He's the leader of the "Fist Club" that has the single goal of tracking me down and beating me every few days. Just long enough to heal, just short enough to still hurt. He also happens to be my cousin, not that it seems to matter. To me, he's a bully and thug, one that I could gladly do without.

Then we have the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston. Most of the time, these two have half a working brain cell between the two of them, and have a thirst for pranks and destruction. Members of the "Fist Club". they do most of the hunting, cornering, and holding for Snotlout. They generally have the sense to keep him from going too far, but then again, too far for them is permanent damage. For me, they're just the wild cards of the group, never know what they might do next.

Zander Dragtson is a model Viking in appearance, but quite the opposite in reality. The tallest in the group, he has the strength and size to fight, with the knowledge to back it up. He can easily take most people in the village and any dragon, but he refuses to kill dragons. No one knows this, because to not fight dragons is to not be a Viking. I only know because he told me. Of the group, he is the only one who will stand up or me, and willingly associate with me. He also puts the fist in "Fist Club" by putting his fist in the groups face.

And lastly is Astrid Hofferson. A true Viking and Shield Maiden. Take Snotlout's strength and Zander's intelligence and you have Astrid. Strong, fast, lean. Nothing can stand in her way, then again, nothing wants too unless they want to face her wrath. I use to have a crush on her, even made her the axe she carries everywhere (not that she knows it). But then she joined the "Fist Club" and joined in on the beatings. She doesn't join in often, usually just content to stand to the side and glare, but when she does it hurts that much more. So now I don't like her, and probably never will.

As I'm watching them, Gobber grabs my tunic (really, what is up with that) and sets me next to the grindstone.

"Now, you aren't thinking of joining them, are you?"

"Eh, who wants that lousy job? Running around all night, tossing water on fires that just get re-lit by dragons, and trying not to die. Sounds fun."

"Now you know full well that job is important, Hiccup."

"Sorry. Uh, did you want something or can I get to work?"

"As a matter of fact..." He walks over to a contraption in the back. "What is this thing here?"

"Ah, that. It's a bola launcher I made. Suppose to throw a bola farther and harder than anyone else can by hand. Oh, don't to-"

Gobber sets his hand on the frame, activating the spring mechanism and launching a bola right past my head and into the face of someone outside the window.

"Whoops..."

"I was _going_ to say don't touch it. I haven't fixed that problem yet."

"Eh heh, right. So, is this going to be used on dragons?"

Oh, crap. What do I tell him? I would say yes, but that would be a lie. Or I could say no, and answer a lot of unwanted questions.

"U-uh, w-well, I s-suppose it c-could be used f-for that, y-yes." He completely over looks the fact that I only stutter when nervous or lying.

"Ah, excellent. Well, make sure to let me have a go at it then, yeah?"

"U-um, y-yeah, sure."

He hobbles of to do some more repairs, while I'm left to think about the dragons that raid us. While most think it's an honor to kill a dragon, I feel differently. Most likely because I see the intelligence no one else does. See, I don't know why, but ever since I could remember, I've been able to hear dragons talking. At first, I didn't know what is was, but then the voices I did hear were always present in a raid, and belonged to no one I knew. They also talked about things that made no sense, unless it was the dragons that were talking. Since learning that, I've kept an eye on how the dragons actually attack, and found proof they aren't the heartless killers the villagers make them to be. They never go for the kill unless they have to, and they avoid destroying buildings that have people in them. They even avoid the great hall, where all the elderly and children are at! All the dragons are unique in a way too.

The Terrible Terror. Small and unsuspecting. While alone not very threatening, but as a group are a force to be reckoned with. These little guys serve as a distraction for the bigger dragons, keeping people occupied as the others steal the food. They're kinda like me, small but can pack a punch in the right setting.

We also have the Gronkle. These guys always hold the front lines. Thanks to their rough and tough hide, they can take and deflect most attacks. Since they aren't very fast, they focus on guarding the other dragons. Also like me, since all my inventions are meant to do just that.

Then there's the Deadly Nadder. Fast and agile, these dragons have two jobs. The first is to steal the food, since they can get in and out faster than the other dragons. The second is to rush any Vikings that get past the Gronkles. Thanks to their bird like appearance and large head, most would think they can't balance. They would be wrong, like they would be with me. Despite my clumsy nature, when I start running, nothing can stop or catch me.

The Hideous Zippleback is a wild card. They usually do a few things. The first is distraction. They release large amounts of gas to disorient their attackers and knock them down while they can't see. The second is destruction. Fill a building with gas, light it up and BOOM, no more building. The third is to steal the food. One head breaths the gas, the other gets the food, they fly away. I like to think I can be distracting as well, since I defiantly have the destruction down.

Then we have the Monstrous Nightmare. These guys do one thing, and one thing only. Cause chaos. See, all they really need to do is show up, light themselves on fire, then run around like something bit them in the butt. Plenty of fire spread in a short time. I seem to have the same effect. I show up somewhere, and suddenly everyone is tense, waiting for something to spontaneously explode.

The ultimate dragon is the one that no one has ever seen. We call it the-

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

This guy never steals food, never shows themselves, and never misses. To me, this dragon is the one I feel I can relate to the most. One of a kind, never works with the others, and does things no one else can do. I've only seen glimpses of this dragon, but I'm sure in the light this guy would be beautiful. Sleek, aerodynamic build. Black scales to blend in to the night sky, and enough power to take out catapults in one shot. Many people would give up anything for the chance to kill them, and I really hope no one does.

"Alright Hiccup, man the stall, they need me out there."

I stare at him as he goes to leave. He seems to remember something just as he gets to the door.

"Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." He gives a battle cry and joins the fray, without a second look back. As I hear that famous screech again, I know I have to see them. As the forge has a lull in people, I run out the back door and to the cliff off at the edge of the village, where no fighting is going on and keep an eye on the sky to see where the Night Fury might be.

(Normal POV)

The Twins were bored. How they can be bored with a raid going on is anyone's guess, but they are. This always spells disaster for someone, and during a raid, that is only made worse.

"Ugh, this is so lame! Why isn't there more destruction!"

"I know sister, the dragons are refusing to give a good show!"

"Hey, you know how Hiccup is always making things that make other things blow up?"

"Yes! That's it! Wait- what are we talking about?" Ruffnut gives him a good punch.

"Hiccup! He probably made another one of his machines! With the track record of those things, we can use to to destroy stuff and not get in trouble!"

"Genius, dear sister! To the forge!"

With that, they both toss their buckets and run to the forge. They walk in the front just as Hiccup walks out the back, just missing each other.

"Hey, isn't the Useless twerp suppose to be here?"

"I dunno. Something else to get him in trouble with. Now look around for that invention!" Ruffnut shoved her brother into the wall and ran inside, Tuffnut close behind. They don't have to go very far, as they both crash into it, almost knocking it over.

"Hey, careful! We don't want it exploding in here!"

"Why not? That would be fun."

"Because the forge is an important thing, remember the last time we blamed Hiccup for setting it on fire?"

"Oh, yeah. Not fun." With that, they grab the handles and run, trying to find a spot to deploy it. After a minute of running, they find a spot away from the immediate battle.

"So, how do you use this thing?"

"How should I know? I didn't make it."

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"Yes." Ruffnut once more tackled Tuffnut to the ground. While they were fighting, they rolled into the launcher and set it off, sending a stray bola off into the night. Both were too focused on wrestling to notice, but did notice when a Nadder landed on it, crushing it.

"Hmm."

"Indeed."

"Shall we start running, dear sister?"

"Indeed we shall." Both turn and run, screaming. The Nadder just stares at them for a moment, wondering at their stupidity, before giving an angry squawk and running after them.

Back on the cliff, Hiccup is not dissapointed. He sees the Night Fury block out the stars, just before he hears the whistle that only a Night Fury can make. They blast the catapult, before swooping back up. Then Hiccup hears it. The sound of ropes spinning in the air. Suddenly, the dragon shrieks and falls into the woods. Hiccup is stuck, with a look of horror on his face, before his mind starts working overtime.

'Wha- who threw that?! No one has the arm strength to thr-'

"The Mangler!" Someone took the Mangler and shot the Night Fury out of the sky.

"Nononono, please not be that..." He turns to run back to the forge to see if the bola launcher is still there, but is stopped by growling from behind him. He turns to see a rather angry looking Nightmare, likely glaring at him for the Night Fury getting shot down. "Oh, great." He turns again, screaming as he runs back down the hill, the Nightmare just behind him.

At the sound of familiar screaming, Stoick looks up from where he's helped trap some Nadders in a net, and sees Hiccup on a cliff, running from a Nightmare. "Not _again_..."

"Do NOT let them escape!" With that, he runs to the cliff where Hiccup is still running from the dragon.

Hiccup just barely dodges another stream of fire and hides behind a brazier. When the flames die down, he peeks around the pole, only to see the tail end of the dragon. Slowly turning, he comes face to face with the Nightmare, who paused. Confusion slowly overrides fear as he locks eyes with the dragon, seeing confusion in their eyes as well. Before either can do anything, Stoick arrives punching the Nightmare back. The dragon backs up to shoot more flame, but finds none forthcoming. 

Stoick gives a slightly manic grin. "You're all out." He advances on the dragon again and delivers several more punches before the dragon backs off and flies away, just to get caught in another net.

Satisfied, Stoick turns with a rage filled glare to the base of the brazier, which then collapses to show Hiccup looking at him from the other side. They both turn to watch the bowl detach from the pole and roll down the hill, smashing several pathways, part of a house, a boat and part of the docks, as well as releasing the Nadders Stoick had caught earlier.

After all the dragons fly away, Hiccup turns around in time to get a hard slap to the face, sending him to the ground.

"What flimsy excuse do you have _this_ time, boy?" Hiccup gets back up to answer, but as soon as he opens his mouth, he gets floored again. "I thought so." Stoick turns his glare from Hiccup to Gobber, who just walked up. "Get him back to the house. I have his mess to clean up." With that, Stoick walked off to oversee the repairs. Gobber stopped to help Hiccup to his feet, before lightly cuffing him on the back of the head and leading him "home" on the walk of shame, which always passes right in front of the other teens.

"Quite the performance, Useless." That was Tuffnut.

"Yeah, all that was really useful, wasn't it Useless?" And that was Snotlout.

"Uh huh, uh huh, yeah..."

Ruffnut shoved her brother slightly while Gobber shoved Snotlout's helmet over his eyes as he walked by. Hiccup looked at the other three teens and saw Fishlegs look of pity, Zander's look of understanding, and Astrid's look of disgust. 

"He didn't even let me talk that time."

"Uh huh."

"Not that he would listen even if I did get too."

"Well, it runs in the family."

"And if by some miracle he does, he just looks at me with disdain and disappointment before ignoring me." He decides a demonstration is in order. " _Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! Not this pathetic excuse for a Viking!_ "

"Now, you're looking at this all wrong, it's not whats on the outside that he doesn't like, it's whats inside he can't stand."

"That doesn't make me feel better, you know."

"Look, just stop trying to be something you're not!"

"I did, years ago." With that, Hiccup walks into the house and shuts the door. Gobber just sighs and walks away. Hiccup goes up to his room and pulls out a box from under his bed. He pulls out a journal with several lists and tally marks. He stops on a page that says ' _Times Blamed For Raid_ ' and adds another tally mark, then turns to another page that says ' _Times Dad Beat Me_ ' and adds a tally mark to that. He also adds another tally mark to ' _Times Dad Humiliated Me In Public_ ' and ' _Times I Failed To Die_ ' before putting the journal and box back under his bed. He grabs his knife from the desk and makes a quick slash on his right arm. He lets the blood run while he cleans the knife and puts it back before wrapping the wound in a bandage. Then with a look of determination, he grabs another journal and heads out the back door. He has a Night Fury to free.


	2. Meetings and Panic Attacks

(Normal POV)

The Great Hall was filled with people. After making the more immediate repairs and cleaning up some of the rubble, Stoick called the villagers in for a meeting. He was in the middle of his speech to gather support for another Nest Hunt.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and take it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!"

He stabs the map with his dagger, right in the middle of the area known as 'Helheims Gate' where the dragons nest is said to be. In the back of the room, Zander is seen hiding in the shadows, holding back his laughter. _'If only they knew the new nest would be Berk!'_

One of the other villagers spoke up. "But those ships never come back..."

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard! Now whose with me?!"

The villagers just mumble among themselves, neither committing nor denying their participation. Zander thinks he hears one say "I have to do my axe returns..." as an excuse. _'What even is that? And so much for fearless Viking tradition...'_

"Alright. Those who stay will look after Hiccup."

Everyone shoots their hand up before he even finished saying the name. Zander just looks on in disgust. _'How can these people be so heartless,_ dragons _are better than them!'_

After dismissing everyone to prepare, he sees Stoick walk over to Gobber who said something about his undies. _'I think he has a bladder problem or something...'_

"No, you need to stay here. Train some new recruits."

"Ah, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Everything, that's what."

"Oh, come on, you give the lad too little credit. He's really handy in the forge, making those contraptions."

"My point, Gobber. And he won't be in training. He'll be killed before he even gets to the arena!"

 _'How would that happen? The only way to do that is if someone killed him. Though that is possible with how much these people hate him.'_ Really, Zander mused, the Chief is the only reason the village does hate him. Like those mainlanders say: _'Monkey see, monkey do.'_

"Oh, you don't know that."

"But I do know that."

"No, you don't."

" _Yes_ , I do."

" _No_ , you _don't!"_

"Listen, you know what he's like! He can't do the simplest thing without messing something up. I give him a hammer and he drops it on his foot. He's _Useless!"_

_'That was when he was four years old! How did you expect him to hold your hammer?!'_

"Hey, he is still your son. You shouldn't give up on him just because he isn't exactly like you."

_'Thank you, Gobber.'_

"He's hardly my son. How can he be, when all he does is embarrass me? No, see, when I was a boy..."

_'Oh, here we go...'_

"Oh, here we go."

"My father told me to bash my head against a rock, and I did it. Do you know what happened?"

_'You split your skull open?'_

"You got a headache."

"That rock split in two. It showed me what a Viking could do, Gobber! They could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew who I was, what I had to become. Hiccup is hardly a Viking at all."

"Look, Stoick. You aren't giving the lad a chance. And you won't always be here to save him. He will get out there again, he's probably out there now!"

_'Darn right you aren't giving him a chance, not with with those ridiculous expectations.'_

\- - - -

Hiccup made his way through the forest. It had been a few hours since he got out here, but still no luck in finding the dragon. He normally knew these forests, could sense where everything was. He didn't know why he could do that, he just could. He never questioned it though, the forest was his safe place. Out here he could get away from the village, away from the pain. He almost tried living out here once, when he was eight. He took some stuff from his room and camped out on the other side of the island. No one bothered to come look for him for several months, before his father found him. He could still feel the pain from that beating sometimes. Now he only stayed out here for days or maybe a week at a time, so he could avoid some of his fathers wrath.

Focusing, he looked around the next area he came to. Seeing nothing still, he crossed out another area on his self-made map. He was getting worried. Before he left the village, he heard no one boasting they took down the Night Fury, and also didn't find his Mangler. Still, he didn't want to take chances. Even if the person who took his machine didn't realize they took the dragon down, people were still going to be coming into the woods for the trees to rebuild with.

In his rush, he pushed a branch out of the way, only for it to come back and smack him in the face. After giving a yelp, he glared at the branch, then the tree it was connected to. That was when he noticed something was wrong. He had been in this area several times, even found a wonderful cove no one knew about. It was hidden well enough that you either had to know what to look for, or really search to find it. What he did know, was that this tree wasn't like that the last time he came out here.

Following the path of destruction, he found them. There on the ground, unmoving, was the Night Fury. When he thought the dragon would be beautiful in the light, he was really underestimating what they would look like. It would be even better were there not any ropes confining them.

"Oh, no... please don't be dead, please don't be dead..."

(Dark-Wing POV)

He hurt. His everything hurt, especially his tail. He couldn't remember what happened, or where he was. Last he could remember was the Queen forcing him and the other dragons to go on another raid. He was flying high over the village that the Vikings called 'Berk' waiting to intervene if things got too bad. As he was watching, he saw that one different hatchling run from a den a Flame-Skin set on fire. This one hatchling was special. All the dragons could feel it, though none knew why. None of the dragons could get close enough to investigate during a raid, and we couldn't leave the nest when not on a raid so we couldn't find out.

Even from so high in the air, I could still hear the others of his nest yelling at him, scolding him for going where he always goes. Why do they yell at him? Does he not need to go to that weapon-making den? Did they not see the den he was in was on fire? I don't think they really care. I watch as he makes his way through all the fighting, dodging all the swinging claws and burning rubble. Then he gets grabbed by the Viking Alpha.

" _WHAT_ do you think you're doin' outside?! Get back to the house!"

That big man is really loud. I think the Queen could hear that all the way back at the nest. He roughly throws the hatchling away from him, before grabbing a wooden thing and throwing it at a Spike-Tail. I wince, it hit her wing, but thankfully didn't break anything.

The hatchling has made it to the other den, which means he's safe. All the dragons know not to attack that den, since we know that's where the special hatchling is. The Viking Alpha takes some others to the large rock-throwers. After they load and launch a boulder, I see a Flame-Skin climb the tower, setting the base on fire. It isn't enough to stop them, which means it's my turn. All the Vikings freeze when they hear my whistle. It's rather satisfying. The Alpha and the others jump just before I blast the tower. Just to be safe, I swing around for a second shot, and the entire thing collapses.

I look down and see the special hatchling run from the den, making his way to the cliff. I know why he goes there. He likes to watch me. While I want to yell at him for running though the battle, the cliff is safer than the middle of the nest. I wait until he gets there and is looking for me before we set a plan into motion. Since we know he likes to go there to watch me, we have a Flame-Skin below him. While the hatchling is distracted, the Flame-Skin will sneak up on him to catch his scent.

I fly down to destroy another rock-thrower and fly just past the cliff, giving him a good view. Then suddenly, I'm wrapped in those rock-vines that the Vikings use to trap dragons. At first I think it might have been the special hatchling that told someone where to shoot, but looking at him as I fly past, I see the horror on his face. That means someone got a lucky shot. Too bad the Flame-Skin doesn't know that.

 _'This could be bad...'_ I think both about the Flame-Skin going to attack the hatchling and my current predicament of falling at high speeds into the trees. I hit my head on some trees then hit it again rather hard on a rock. The last thing I think of is _'Why does my tail hurt so bad?'_

My eyes shoot open. The hatchling! I need to make sure the hatchling isn't hurt! I move to get up, but the world spins when I try. Maybe I should wait for my head to stop pounding first...

When the pain recedes, I try moving again, just to find I'm still wrapped in the rock-vine. How did this thing not break when I crashed? I certainly hit enough trees to do it. Knowing I won't be going anywhere soon, I set my head down and close my eyes. I might as well re- "Ow!"

I freeze. A Viking is near by. But why can't I smell them? I'm downwind from them, I should be able to smell them! I hear something moving closer, then hear a gasp. I keep as still as I can and hope they go away, but what I hear next confuses me.  


"Oh, no... please don't be dead, please don't be dead..."

Why would a Viking not want me dead? I know I'm feared by all the Vikings, so shouldn't they be ecstatic that they finally caught me? I feel something on my arm and try to jerk away from the touch. I give up the pretense of being dead and open my eyes to try and see who it is that found me. They move into my line of sight and both of us freeze as we make eye contact. It's the special hatchling. He must have come to find me before the other Vikings could.

"Oh, thank Odin your alive." The relief was clear on his face. He looks at my body, then the ropes. He moves closer and pulls out a knife. On instinct, I growl when I see that. He jumps and stops, dropping the knife.

"No, no, it's okay. I need that to cut the ropes." I study him for a moment. I can't sense any malicious intent, so I give a small nod to him. He sighs in relief and slowly picks up the knife again. Much slower this time, he comes closer and grabs the first rope, and begins cutting. By the third rope, I can move freely enough to get the rest off, so I catch him off guard and pounce on him.

He lets out a gasp as he gets pinned, and struggles to get out from under me. He must think I want to hurt him, so I just stand there looking at him until he calms down. After he does, we make eye contact again. His fear turns into confusion as all I do is look at him. When I feel he's calmed down enough, I slowly move forwards and start sniffing him. What I find confuses me. I can smell smoke, metal, and the forest. I smell the a little bit of the Flame-Skin that was going to sneak up on him, and a little bit of another dragon I don't recognize. I can't smell any family on him at all. No sire or dam. Is that why he's treated badly? Because he has no family? I need to tell the other dragons. After giving him a long lick across his entire head, I jump off him and take off through the forest.

I try to take off, but I start tipping to the left, as if I'm not getting enough lift, and crash into a few more trees. I get up and try again, but with the same result, this time hitting some rocks. On my third attempt, I fall over a small cliff and into a crevice in the ground. I land in the water at the bottom and thrash around for a minute before I get to shore. I look around and see this place has no easy way out. There are high walls on each side, and a pond in the middle. I try to take off again, just to crash. Confused, I look back at my body and freeze when I see my tail.

Half my tail-fin is gone. The right one has a few scrapes, but nothing to bad, but the left one is just gone. _'Well, that would explain the pain from earlier.'_ Then I lose all coherent thought and have a rather violent and explosive panic attack. Everything after that is a blur before I hit something really hard and fall to the ground, then faint.


	3. Sparing Matches

(Hiccup POV)

While I was walking through the forest, I kept thinking back to the Night Fury. When I walked up, they weren't moving at all. Then they jerked when I put my hand on them to see if they were still alive. I don't know why, but when I walked to their head, I could have sworn I felt something. I don't know what it was. What I do know is I could see so much emotion in their eyes. Pain, worry, confusion, shock, and curiosity. And the intelligence in his eyes (I think they're a he) was staggering. When they say _'the eyes are the window to the soul'_ I didn't realize just how big that window was.

After holding his gaze for a few moments, I turned to the bola still constricting him. I suppose it made sense that he growled when I took my dagger out and I started walking towards him. He may know I watch him, but he doesn't know if he can trust me. I mean, it was my fault he got shot down. I didn't do it myself, but I made the thing that did it.

I assured him I just wanted to cut the ropes, and I could tell he was studying me, trying to see if I was lying. I was so relieved when he said to go ahead. I hated seeing him bound and helpless like that, knowing full well what it feels like. I cut the ropes as fast as I could, but I think he got impatient. I only got three done before he pounced on me. At first, I was scared he was just letting me help him so he could get me back for taking him down, but instead he just sat there, watching me.

When I calmed down, he slowly moved his head towards mine, and started sniffing me. I have no idea why he was doing that. Maybe he just wanted to get my scent, since I assume that's how they know who's who. Neither of us broke eye contact the entire time, so I was able to see when he started to get confused. Was it my scent? Did he smell something that he couldn't make out? No answers were forthcoming so I just sat and waited until he was done.

It didn't take long until he was seemingly satisfied. Then he gave me a really long and slobbery lick across the face. Before I could even contemplate that, he was gone, running off into the woods. I sat there for a minute after he left, trying to comprehend what just happened, before I got up and started walking in the other direction.

So here I am now, just aimlessly wandering the woods, with no real destination in mind. Soon, I find myself over one of the many cliffs of Berk. I come here quite often since I like the view. I sit on the old stump that's been here for who knows how long and just look out over the ocean.

While this place is nice, I don't always come here for a nice reason. On those really hard days, where I end up covered in bruises or find the scorn to be overwhelming, I come here and contemplate. There have been several times that I've almost gave up. It isn't easy when everyone's against you. One time was when I was ten. I had been walking to the Great Hall when the "Fist Club" came up and railed on me, in the process knocking over some barrels which made a chain reaction that ended up with at least a third of the village on fire and half the docks destroyed. When Stoick came to see what happened, all three of them pinned it on me. I didn't even get a chance to defend myself. Stoick just grabbed me and took me to the house, where he added to the bruises I already got.

Gobber was able to stop him before he got to far into it and told him what really happened. He believed the part of the Twins doing the damage, not the part where they beat me in the process. After he got Stoick out of there, Gobber took me to Gothi's hut to fix me up. That night I left in the middle of the night and ran here to the cliff. Right up to the edge and stood here all night. In the morning, I was still standing there about to collapse from exhaustion and the cold when someone found me.

Zander had come to see me that morning and found I wasn't there. He must have known where I had chosen to go, or Gothi had told him, but he ran all the way here. He sat us both down and just hugged me. I tried to get him to go away, but he refused to leave, promising to stay here with me until I was better. I just broke down after that, giving violent sobs into his shoulder.

I felt so much better after letting it out. He promised not to tell anyone, but said I should talk to Gothi at least to help get past all this. When I asked why he came to help me, he just told me it wouldn't be right to leave a friend hanging. One thing he said has always stuck with me that could help when I'm feeling overwhelmed. _'It's Viking to see emotion as a weakness. It's human to let that weakness make you stronger.'_

Ever since, when I feel overwhelmed, I go to him or Gothi to just let it out. They both helped me so much, I don't think I could ever thank them. They can't stop the pain, but they can help me through it. Since then I've been allowed to come back here, so long as I don't let myself freeze to death.

I hear someone come out of the brush behind me and sit down, just looking out over the ocean with me.

"I'm sorry I can't stop him."

"I know."

"Are you alright? Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later. This is nice right now."

"Okay."

We sit there for a while more, just enjoying the breeze. I wonder if I should tell him about the Night Fury. I know he doesn't like fighting dragons and won't kill them, but I don't know how he would react to being told I let one of the most dangerous of them go. I decide to keep it a secret for now. While I don't like keeping secrets from him, he understands that they can be necessary.

"Stoick is leading another nest hunt."

"Again?"

"Yeah, he is way to obsessed with that." That's an understatement. Ever since my mom was taken by dragons, he's had a personal vendetta against them. While I can't blame him for that, it does get out of hand.  


"I think he also might be putting you in Dragon Training while he's gone."

"W-what?"

"I snuck into the meeting, and afterwards Stoick pulled Gobber aside to talk to him. He wants him to train new recruits and Gobber tried to get you in. I'm not sure if he convinced Stoick or not, but be ready in case he does."

I groaned. Of course Gobber would do that. I know he means well, but he isn't always in-tune with what people want. It probably doesn't help I never told him I don't want to fight dragons, though that should be obvious.

"I know Stoick is going to get rough again tonight, so while I know you don't want to, just go along with joining training. He should ease up some if you do."

"Alright, thanks."

"What are friends for? You know I would stop him if I could. If he wasn't Chief he would get a good knuckle sandwich."

I chuckled. "You think you could take all that Vastness?"

"You know it." Zander turned to grin at me, before he turned back to looking out over the sea. "You want some last minute training before tomorrow? We haven't done that in a while."

"Sure, that would be nice. Help get my mind off things."

We both get up and head back into the woods. We walk in companionable silence until we get to his house. He lives here by himself, since he lost his family when he was younger during a raid. I'm not sure why his place is five minutes into the woods from the main village, but it's rather nice here. Lots of space, the woods are literally your back door, and a nice view of the ocean and docks.

I look at him. At 6'2" he's easily one of the taller people here. After his parent's died, he took to wearing a long black cloak all the time that connects to his collarbone and the sides of his shins and is covered in shed dragon scales. He also keeps his hair short. Said its because he doesn't like to deal with it. He also wears metal gauntlets all the time. They're plated for full movement and have clawed tips on the fingers. I've asked why he never takes them off, and he said _'Just in case something happens.'_ I don't know what that something would be but I didn't question it further.

He walks to a storage shed on the side of the house and tosses out a bamboo pole. I catch it and walk over to a small clearing by his house and wait. He comes over with another pole and stands across from me. His gauntlets grip the pole a little tighter and he runs at me, and we start to spar.

I enjoy are sparing matches, they give a nice change of pace. When he heard of the incident regarding crushing my foot with Stoick's hammer, he offered to train me instead. At first, we started with physical activities. Running, lifting weights, climbing trees. He says that's what his dad use to do when he would let Zander and his brother watch him, so that's what we do. After I gained endurance and stamina, we started weapons training.

I was apprehensive at first, since I didn't like to fight, but he convinced me saying I at least needed to know how to defend myself, whether it was against dragons or other Vikings. It was a slow process since I wasn't really good with any 'Viking-like' weapons. Zander also showed me that I would be better using my left hand to fight instead of my right, since my left is my dominant hand. After that I improved fast.

He taught me how to use each kind of weapon, including my fists, but I'm best with three different weapons. Them being throwing daggers, dual short-swords (I feel like he was trying to tell me something with those), and a staff. I haven't tried it yet, but Zander says I could beat all the other teens my age, and likely some adults with how skilled I am.

He also taught me basic hunting with the bow. Since I don't like killing, even if it's just animals, I didn't do much with it, but I'm still a good shot.

By sunset, we were still going, and starting to get worn down.

"I think...this is...the longest...match...we've ever...had..." Zander said, both of us panting heavily but still with energy to keep going.

"Okay...I think...that's enough." I replied.

"Agreed." We both just fall to the ground and lay there for a while, letting the wind cool us off. I haven't felt this good in a while, and it feels good to stretch my muscles after working in the forge for long.

"Will you be alright going back by yourself, or do you want me to come with you?" Zander asked after we laid there for a while.

"I should be fine. I know how to avoid the other teens well enough by now."

"Alright, if you're sure..." We help each other up and walk back to his house. He gives me a cup of water which I drink greedily. After I give him the cup back, I wave goodbye and start the walk back to the village.

\- - - -

I walk in the back door and see Stoick sitting by the fire, with his back to me. I close the door quietly and sneak over to the stairs. I get about halfway up before: "Hiccup." Crap.

I freeze before slowly turning around and walking back down a couple of steps. "Y-yeah, dad?"

"Where were you?"

"T-training wi-" I find myself on the floor with a sore cheek.

"Don't lie, boy. Now, where were you?" I stand up before answering.

"The f-forest." I manage to stay standing, but my other cheek is now sore.

"I told you to stay here." I know he didn't say that, but correcting him is always a bad idea.

"I'm going on another hunt for the nest. You will stay here and go with Gobber to Dragon Training." Darn, he is putting me in.

"U-uh, do I have to-" This time it was a punch to the stomach that sent me into the wall.

"Don't talk back, boy! You _will_ be in Dragon Training! Do _not_ disappoint me." With that, he grabs a bag and his helmet before walking out the door.

I slowly get up off the ground, holding my stomach while I make my slow way up the stairs. Opening the door, I walk over to my desk and pull out some pain medicine Gothi gave me a while back. After taking some, I pull out the journal from under the bed and add a few more marks. Two go on _'I Was Treated Nicely'_ with a Z and NF next to it so I know who it was, and another goes on _'Times Dad Beat Me'_. I put the journal away and sit at my desk for a while, drawing the Night Fury from earlier. When I finish, I find myself looking into the eyes on the drawing, remembering the intelligent gaze I saw before. Sighing, I blow out the candle and change into my night clothes before slipping into bed for the night. The last thought I have is _'I hope I get to see the Night Fury again.'_


	4. First Day of Training

(Hiccup POV)

Hiccup woke up the next day to loud banging on his door. Groggily, I got up and changed into a new pair of clothes. I threw on my boots and made my way downstairs to see who is was that decided to wake me up. I have an idea of who it was, but it was better to let them in than for them to barge in. I open the door to a cheerful looking Gobber. If he noticed the bruises on my face, he doesn't mention them.

"Mornin' lad! Did you get the good news?" Ah, yes. The 'good' news.

"I'm not thrilled nor amused, Gobber." His face fell some at that.

"Oh? I thought you would have wanted to join Dragon Trainin'."

"I _did_ tell you I gave up on trying to be something I'm not last night, correct?"

"Ah, yeah... Well, you're in it now! And with your old pal Gobber!" Leave it to him to try and lighten the mood.

"Yeah, can't wait." I reply with absolutely stunning unenthusiasm.

"Great!" I think he chose not to notice my tone on purpose. That or he's that dense. I'm not sure. "The first class starts at about mid-morning, in a few hours. I'll see you there!" With that he turns and hobbles off. I shut the door and decide to do something since I know I won't get back to sleep.

I walk to the fire pit and throw a few logs on before rekindling the embers to get a fire going again. Then I grab a pot from the kitchen and fill it with the rain water from outside, and put it over the fire to heat the water. While I'm waiting for that, I pull out the tub from the back and fill it halfway with water, before undressing and taking a quick bath.

Once done with that, I dry off and re-dress, then dump the tub outside. Coming back in, I go to the sink and wash my face and hands before getting some carrots, potatoes and chicken out. I cut them up and dice them before dumping them in the now boiling water. As I'm stirring, I hear another knock at the door, this one much quieter but just as hard. I put the spoon down and check who it is.

Zander greets me with a smile. "Hey, Hiccup. Mind if I come in?"

"Sure, almost done with breakfast if you want some."

"Thanks. Smells good." We both walk in. Zander goes to the table while I go back to the pot, stirring some more before pouring out two bowls. I put both on the table then take the pot off the fire and set it aside.

We both eat in silence, taking our time and enjoying the food. I break the silence first. "He put me in training."

"Ah, I thought he might. I know he doesn't show it, but he does care about you."

"I just wish he _would_ show it."

"I know. How are you feeling, by the way? Those bruises don't look too pretty."

"I'll survive. Always have, always will."

"Good to know. If you want, we can stop by Gothi's, get some more medicine for you. I need to get some more myself."

"Let's do that after class, I don't want to carry that stuff all day."

"Alright, we can do that." We lapse back into silence, finishing our meals. We washed the bowls out and I put the rest of the food into the cabinet.

"Gobber will want us to bring weapons, and I don't think that includes your dagger."

"Oh, okay. I'll take one of the swords we have at the forge then."

We head out the door and into the village. While not everyone left for the nest hunt, it was still nice not needing to deal with so many people. It also helped that Zander was with me. We got to the forge and I grabbed one of the dull swords that had yet to be sharpened and we headed up to the arena. I'm not sure why they put it so far away from the main village, but I'm glad they did. Ever since I realized it was the dragons that I could hear, I stayed as far from the area as I could. The first time I came here, I wanted to cry from what the dragons were saying, and from the horrible conditions they were forced to live in. Now though, it looks like I won't have a choice.

Zander and I are the last to arrive, hanging back from everyone else while Gobber opens the gate.

"Welcome to Dragon Training."

"No turning back." As per usual, Astrid is first in. She has a perfectionist issue and can't stand not to be the best in something. She practically worships Stoick and takes his word as law. She has a fierce rivalry with Zander too, but I don't think he cares about that. Some people even think she has a secret crush on him. Not that anyone would say that to her face for fear of losing a body part to her axe.

"I hope I get some serious burns."

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." The Twins have a weird fascination with pain. Then again Vikings in general have a fascination with pain, but the Twins more so.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." See?

"Yeah, no kidding. Pain. Love it!" All the other teens whip around to see Zander and I standing behind them. Then collectively groan.

"Oh great, who let Useless in?" said Tuffnut.

"Yeah, we all know he can't kill anything." Snotlout said.

"If you didn't need your eyes for this, I would punch you into next week." Ah, yes. Zander to the rescue. It's rather amusing to see them both pale.

"Alright, the recruit who does best in here will win the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village." Hiccup tensed. _'How is killing a dragon an honor, exactly?'_ He didn't see Zander scowl next to him.

"Didn't Zander kill a dragon already? Why is he here?" Snotlout questioned.

"Yeah, he should get kicked out!" Tuffnut, always the supporter.

"Enough! This is my class and I say who gets to be in or out. Now get over here and line up!"

All of us walk to the center of the arena, with me between Fishlegs and Zander. It makes me feel short.

"Here, we have just a few of the dragons you will learn to fight." As he starts listing the dragons and Fishlegs starts spewing random dragon facts, I listen to what the dragons are saying.

 **"It's the Two-Limb one. He has more hatchlings here."** said a mature-sounding female voice.

 **"Not again, why do they always use hatchlings?"** said a younger female voice.

 **"To teach them, remember?" "Yeah, remember?"** said two male voices from one cage. That was probably the Zippleback.

 **"Oh! Oh! I hope they choose me! I want to bite one of them."** said a rather childlike voice. A boy, it sounds like.

 **"Make sure to look for the special hatchling, he smells like a dragon."** said a rough male voice. I briefly wonder who they're talking about.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!" I'm jerked back to reality by Gobber shouting. I think that was directed at Fishlegs. "And, the Gronkle."

"Whoa, whoa, aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Ah, yes. _'Learning on the job.'_ Snotlout's panicked face is rather amusing.

"I believe in learning on the job." And with that, he pulls down the lever. The Gronkle bursts out of their cage and flies straight into the far wall, and eats some of the rocks that were knocked loose.

"Now, what's the first thing your going to need?"

"A doctor?" I mutter to myself.

"Plus five speed?!" What even is that, Fishlegs?

"A shield!" Astrid and Zander reply confidently.

"Shields! Go!" All the teens rush to the closest shield.

"If you must choose between a sword and a shield, take the shield!" Zander comes over and grabs the shield I'm trying to get on, holding it up so I can get my arm in. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Come on." I follow him when I hear the mature female voice again. **"Which one of you is the special hatchling?"**

I have no idea if they're wanting a response or not so I just keep running.

"Get your hands off my shield!" Oh boy. "There are, like, a million shields!"

"Go take that one! It has a flower on it. Girls like flowers!" Wrong thing to say, Tuffnut. Ruffnut scowls before ripping the shield they were fighting over out of his hands, before bashing it over his head. "Oops, now this one has blood on it." Tuffnut grabs the shield again before a fireball comes out of nowhere and smashes the shield out of their hands, sending them both spinning to the ground.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, out!"

"What?" "What?" After gaining their barrings, they run over to stand with Gobber.

"Your shields are good for another thing, noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragons aim."

**"Oh, please don't do that."**

The other teens besides Zander start banging their weapons and shields together. Hiccup watches as the Gronkle starts shaking her head, the noise messing with her. He sees Zander flinching too, and feels his own vision blurring somewhat.

"Every dragon has a limited number of shots, how many does a Gronkle have?" Thankfully, everyone stopped banging their shields at the question.

"Uh, five?!"

"No, six!"

"Correct, that's now one for each of you!"

"I don't think my parents would-" The Gronkle, now able to focus again, blasts his shield. Fishlegs runs off screaming.

"Fishlegs, out."

Astrid rolls and ends up next to Snotlout. "So, anyways, my parents let me move into their basement. You look like you work out. You should come by to work out sometime-" The Gronkle blasts his shield while he's talking, sending him back several feet.

"Snotlout, you're done."

Her roll away from Snotlout puts her next to Hiccup. They look at each other for a second before turning back to the Gronkle. As Hiccup moves, Astrid moves with him, always standing in front of him.

"Hey, uh, will you please move?" She stops and looks at him like he's on fire and acting like nothings wrong. "What did you just say?" She glares, daring him to answer. Behind her, the Gronkle prepares another shot. "I said, you might want to move." As he jumps to the side, Astrid jerks around to see a fireball collide with her shield, sending her flying back just like Snotlout.

"Astrid, you're out." She gets up seething, with a fiery glare at Hiccup before marching over to the others. Zander walks over. "Did you distract her on purpose?"

"Kinda."

The Gronkle looks around and spots the both of us. **"Which one of you is the special one?"** I just look at her in confusion, not noticing Zander subtly motion to me. Her eyes widen and she charges at me, firing a quick shot to make me lose my shield.

"One shot left!"

I chase my shield down, but end up losing it by getting pinned to the wall by the Gronkle. She stares at me and starts sniffing, her eyes dilating some. When she opens her mouth, Gobber's hook comes out of no where and catches her mouth, surprising her and making her fire her last shot at the wall next to my head.

"And that's six. Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!" As he shoves her into the cage, she looks back at me. **"No, I need to see the hatchling!"** Gobber, oblivious to her plea, shuts the cage and locks it. He walks back over to us, where Zander is helping me up.

"Remember, a dragon will always, _always_ , go for the kill." I stand there looking at him and watch as he leaves the arena.

"Wow, Useless, you really do suck." Snotlout jeers at me.

"Then why did you get knocked out first?" Zander asks with a smirk. Snotlout just sputters a bit before scowling and stomping off, with the Twins following. Fishlegs just stands there awkwardly for a minute before following them. Astrid never stopped glaring, and doesn't leave until she feels she got the point across.

"Well, that was fun, huh?" Zander's words pull me from my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Totally." He just rolls his eyes and starts to leave. "Come on, we need to stop at Gothi's, remember?"

We leave the arena, with me taking one last look at the cages before I leave.

\- - - -

(Dark-Wing POV)

I'm stuck in this hole in the ground! Oh, this is humiliating. The fastest dragon of the nest and I'm stuck in this rather beautiful prison. Since I woke up (with another pounding headache, mind you), I've been trying to at least get out of this cove so I'm not trapped if any Vikings find me. After several hours, I've had no luck.

While taking a break, I decided to think over what I smelled from the hatchling. From what I know, he smells like smoke and metal from the weapon-making den he spends time at. He had a rather strong forest smell, so he must spend a lot of time in the woods. The Flame-Skin scent just made sense, but not that other dragon smell. Has he been around another dragon? I don't think he was, I would have known what kind of dragon it was. Is the dragon smell from him? That might be it, but I need to see him again to find out, and with how I just left so suddenly, I doubt he'll come looking.

That's another thing. He acted like he knew I wouldn't kill him as soon as he let me go. How would he have known that? Was it because I never tried to hurt him when he watched me? Not being able to find him again to ask is rather frustrating. As I get up to get a drink, I listen to the forest. I realize something as I'm listening. I can't hear the Queen anymore. My head shoots up at this and I look for any sign that she might be here. Nothing. How did I get free? The only way to be rid of an alphas call is to get a new alpha, or kill the alpha. So why can't I hear her? I know she isn't dead. Is there another alpha around here? I can't hear one, so I don't think so.

Deciding to count my blessings, I wander around the cove trying to find a spot to sleep. As I'm walking, I catch the scent of the hatchling. Not bothering to question how I might have missed him, I run to where the smell is coming from and stop short at a small cave. Looking inside, I don't see him, but I do see a bundle of grass. Walking over, I see that this is where the hatchlings scent is coming from. That's odd, why would this have his scent? Maybe there are things in here that he uses often. If that's true, then maybe the hatchling comes here often! Choosing to wait in the cave for him to come, I scorch the ground and lay down, watching the cove and listening for anyone approaching.

\- - - -

As I'm about to fall asleep, I realize something. The hatchling may not come back here soon enough for me to still be here. While dragons can last a long time without food, I don't want to risk waiting.

With that in mind, I resume my mission to get out of this infernal trap!

\- - - -

After another few hours of trying, I get frustrated enough to blast the ground in front of me. I walk over to the pond to get another drink, and spot a fish swim by. How did I not notice them before? I edge closer to the pond, and snap at the two fish there. They're too fast, and I'm too tired to go fast enough to catch them. As I lay down despondently, I hear something _'TINK TINK TINK'_ into the cove near me. I raise my head to see where it fell from and see the hatchling standing there.  


Neither of us move for a moment, then he leans back and tips his head. I copy him, wondering what he's thinking. We both just sit there, looking at each other for a few hours, before a crack of thunder startles both of us. We both look up and see storm clouds overhead, ready to unleash their fury at any moment.

"Oh, crap. I need to go!"

I see the hatchling scramble to get up, send me one last glace, then run off back to his nest. I have no idea what just happened, but hopefully he'll come back.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV)

I get inside the Great Hall just as the storm breaks, thankfully avoiding getting soaked. As I slip inside, I see the teens and Gobber at one of the tables for the required meet up to discuss the class. I head over so Stoick cant come back and yell at me for not doing what he said.

"Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy, threw off my reverse tumble." See? Perfectionist.

"Yeah, we noticed." I think Ruffnut is just as done with her as I am.

"No, no, it was so Astrid." Suck up.

"She also let herself get distracted." Astrid leveled a glare at Zander, who just sat there unimpressed. "What, he asked what you did wrong. Are you the only one allowed to nit-pick your performance?" She just scoffed and turned back to her food.

As I walked up, Gobber glanced over at me. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"Uh, he showed up?"

"He didn't get eaten?" I pass the Twins and grab my food.

"He's Useless?" Snotlout winced as Zander threw a plate at him.

"He's _never_ where he should be." Astrid leveled a glare at me as I passed. I think that's her only emotion. Glaring.

"Neither were you, you know." She turns to Zander again before going back to her food.

"Thank you, Zander." I snag a cup of mead and sit across from Zander a table over from the others. Gobber walks off to the bookshelf.

"You also need a bit better reaction time so you don't get caught off-guard by sudden shots like that." Zander whispers some last minute advice before Gobber comes pack with a book in hand. He swiped part of the other table clear before putting the book down.

"You need to live and breath this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." He ignored Zander's snort. He glanced up as thunder rolled through the hall. "No attacks tonight. Study up." He proceded to walk off.

"Wait, you mean read?"

"While we're still alive?"

"Oh, oh! I've read it like, seven times! There's this one dragon that sprays boiling water at you face-"

Zander interjects. "Scauldron." Fishlegs continues like he didn't hear that.

"-and there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-"

"Whispering Death."

"-and another one-" He was cut off by Tuffnut that time. "Yeah, there was a chance I was going to read that..."

"...but now?"

"You guys read. I'll go kill stuff." The "Fist Club": has a total of one and a half working brain cells. After saying this, Snotlout and the Twins walk off, being trailed by Fishlegs. "Oh, and there's this other one with spines that look like trees..." His voice fades as he walks off. I glance over at Astrid. She sees me looking. "Read it." She shoves the book away and leaves, slamming the hall doors behind her.

"Well that was rude." I can't help but agree. "Sorry for needing to ditch you, but I want to get home before the storm gets much worse."

"It's fine. See you later?"

"Yeah, later." He gets up and gives a wave as he goes out the doors while I go back to my food.

\- - - -

About an hour later, the rest of the people file out of the hall, going back home. I move a few more candles over to the table and grab the book. I place it on the table and open it up.

"Dragon Classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class." I flip the page. "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight." Next page. "Timberjack. This gigantic dragon has razor sharp wings that can cut through full grown trees. Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight." Next page. "Scauldron. Sprays scalding hot water at it's victims. Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight." Next page. "Changewing. Even newly hatch dragons can spray acid. Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight." I start flipping through the pages. "Gronkle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns it's victims. Buries it's victims. Chokes it's victims. Turns it's victims inside out. Extremely Dangerous. Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight. Kill on Sight. Kill on Sight." I reach the end of the book. "Night Fury. Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death itself. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you..." I take out my journal and toss it on the Manual, opened to the sketch I made of the dragon.

I look at the drawing. I know the entire book is wrong, but I still cant help but wonder. _'Am I really the first to see a Night Fury?'_


	5. Teeth and Trust

(Hiccup POV)

Since the storm didn't ease up when I was done reading the manual, I just camped out in the Great Hall. It wasn't that big of a deal, since I was going to come back here to grab a fish for the Night Fury. I'm glad that we don't have class every day, that would just be tiring. That and it gives me time to try and get to know the dragon.

Deciding to get an early start, I grab a quick breakfast of bread and grab the fish on my way out. Looking outside, the sun is just barely starting to rise, and the only people up are the fisherman and dock workers. Deciding to hurry before someone tries to question me, I sneak around everyone and into the forest, jogging slightly to get there faster.

\- - - -

After slipping to the bottom of the cove, I peek out and look around for the dragon. I can't see him anywhere. _'Did he get out last night?'_ Walking farther in, I keep looking around to all the spots I know that the dragon could be hiding in.

After passing a pile of rocks, I feel a presence shift. Turning around, I see the dragon on the rocks watching me. He seems slightly surprised that I caught him. Spying the fish in my hands, he slinks down to my level and growls slightly. I hold out the fish for him to take, and he slowly edges towards me. I tense slightly when he starts growling. As I see what he's looking at, I want to slap myself. Of course he would be growling at the dagger.

Slowly, as to not aggravate him further, I take the knife out and throw it into the pond. Looking where the knife fell, then back at me, he relaxes and sits back. Holding out the fish again, he comes closer again.

"Huh, Toothless. I could have sworn you had-" He lunges forwards slightly to snag the fish, then rears back to swallow it. "-teeth." Done with the fish, he drops back to all fours and advances again. Not knowing what he wants, I start backing up until I trip on a rock and back into a boulder. "U-uh, I don't have any more fish, sorry."

He stops to look me in the eyes then starts hacking. The back end of the fish then lands in my lap. I look at it then him as he moves back slightly and sits upright on his hind legs. Not knowing what to do, I just look at him. He looks at me, then the fish, then me again. I realize. "Oh, come on...really?" He smacks his lips and I groan.

Picking up the fish, I move to take a bite and get assaulted by the smell. I was expecting it to smell horrible, but it actually smells...good? Weird. Slowly taking a bite, I'm again surprised again at how good it tastes. Shouldn't raw fish covered in dragon spit taste bad? As much as my body is saying to keep eating it, I force myself to set the rest of the fish down after I swallow the bite.

Looking back at the dragon, he seems...pleased? Maybe he's happy I liked his offering. Slowly getting back up, I raise my hand to touch his head, but he starts growling again and runs off, half flying half crashing at the other side of the cove. After righting himself, he scorches the ground and lays down on it. After a moment, he sees a bird fly away, then sees me a few feet away, having walked up when he burned the ground.

He looks annoyed at me then shifts some, putting his tail and fin in front of his face to block me out. Eager, I scoot forwards some to try and touch his tail. He must have heard me moving that time since he jerked his tail up and glared at me. Getting the point, I jump up and walk off. I hear him get up and walk off as well.

Going to the small cave where I keep my stuff for when I chose to stay in the cove for a while, I take out a sketchbook and pencil, before going to my 'sketching rock' to draw the dragon. Looking around, I see him hanging from a branch on one of the trees wrapped in his wings. I laugh a bit at how he looks. Getting settled, I start drawing.

\- - - -

(Dark-Wing POV)

I had just woken up when I heard someone walking through the woods. They were hard to make out, their steps almost completely silent. Running over to a pile of rocks that show the entire cove but keep me hidden, I watch the entrance I found but couldn't fit through.

A few minutes later, I see the hatchling peek his head through the crevice, looking around. I think he might be looking for me. Not able to see anything, he comes farther in and start walking around, looking at all the spots I could have hidden in.

As he passes the rocks I'm on, I shift silently. He stops and turns to look directly at me. To say I was surprised was an understatement. How did he know right where to look? Dismissing it for later, I crawl down to him seeing the fish he's holding. When I get to a spot across from him, I growl slightly to see what he will do.

He holds the fish out, offering it to me. As I start to come closer, I see the knife he had last time we met. Jumping back, I growl at it. He seems to see what I'm looking at because he takes it and throws it into the pond. Relaxing, I look at him expectantly.

He holds the fish out again, and this time I have less reservations about approaching. When I'm about to grab the fish, he says something. "Huh. Toothless. I could have sworn you had-" Deeming it as not important, and from getting impatient, I lunge slightly and rear back some to swallow the fish. "-teeth."

I drop back down and start walking to him, trying to get another good look at his scent. He must not know what I want, since he starts backing up and gets himself pinned to a boulder. "U-uh, I don't have any more fish, sorry." No more fish? He gave me his only one? No wonder he's so small, he hardly eats! Deciding to be nice, and to test something, I cough up half the fish I ate and drop it in his lap. Then I sit back like he is and wait for him to eat it.

He must not know what I want, so I look at him, the fish, then back. He does the same, realizing what I want. "Oh, come on...really?" I smack my lips to tell him yes. He groans and picks up the fish, slowly bringing it to his mouth. I can see the surprise on his face when he takes a bite. He must have been expecting it to taste bad. Seeing how he eagerly chews and swallows it, he confirmed what I wanted to check. Or he's just a weird hatchling.

He starts to get up again, reaching out to touch me. I growl some and fly off. He may be different, but I'm not ready to touch him yet. Flaming the ground under me, I lay down and curl up. Looking up at the sound of a bird, I see one fly off. Looking back down, I see the hatchling sitting a few feet away. _'When did he get there?'_ Choosing to ignore him, I shift some and move my tail to cover my face.

I hear him shift some, and when I raise my tail, he's a few inches from touching it. Glaring at him, he seems to get the idea and walks off. Getting up as well, I walk over to one of the larger trees down here and climb up to a branch that can hold me. Curling my tail around the branch, I look back at the hatchling and see him come out of the cave carrying some things. Deciding he'll be fine, I wrap my wings around me and go to sleep.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV)

It's been a few hours now since the Night Fury decided to take a nap hanging from a tree. After making a few drawings of the dragon, I decided to sit over by the pond, making a sketch of the dragon in the dirt in front of me.

Speaking of said dragon, I feel him walk up behind me. Pretending not to notice, I keep sketching. Pretty soon, I'm finishing the drawing with the eyes. Hearing him walk off, I glance up, then turn around at the sound of wood snapping. The dragon ripped a branch off a nearby tree and is now dragging it through the dirt.

I watch as they drag and spin around, looking at me every now and then, and smacking me with the branch at one point. The dragon adds a few more loops and a dot before tossing the branch aside and looking at the drawing in approval.

Standing up, I look around me in wonder, trying to see what the dragon tried to draw. As I step forwards, I hear a growl. Freezing, I look at the dragon then down at where I stepped on a line. Testing a theory, I step on and off the like a few times. Getting a purr when I got off and a growl when I got on.

Deciding not to antagonize the fearsome Night Fury, I start stepping over the lines, looking around me to see where to step and try and see what he drew.

I stop when I feel a hot breath on my neck. Turning around, I see I wound up right in front of the dragon. He looks down at me as I look up at him. Raising my hand again, I reach out to touch his face, but he starts growling when I do. Deciding to let the dragon make the choice, I turn my head and raise my hand again.

A few agonizing seconds later, I feel scales on my palm. Tensing slightly, I turn my head back to look at the dragon. I'm not sure what happened next, but when he opened his eyes again and we locked gazes I felt something snap. It was an odd feeling, like I was trying to pull out a tree root and got the satisfying feeling of the dirt coming loose.

The dragon was just looking at me expectantly. I really have no idea what he was waiting for though.

"U-uh, I'll see you tomorrow, then..." I stepped back and left through the cove's entrance and half ran half walked back to the village, trying to think about what that odd feeling was.

\- - - -

(Dark-Wing POV)

I woke up a few hours later and looked around the cove. I saw the hatchling was still there, sitting on a rock facing away from me. Curious, I drop to the ground and walk over, looking over his shoulder. He was making lines in the dirt with a stick.

Intrigued, I kept watching. Soon, I saw them making a shape. It was me! He make what I see in the water whenever I look at it. Inspired, and wanting to try it myself, I look around for a stick to draw with. Walking over, I grab a branch and rip it off the tree. Getting a good grip with my mouth, I put the end to the ground and start moving.

I need to keep looking at the hatchling as I go to make sure I get it right. I think I also hit him with the branch, but he didn't say anything so I kept going. After adding one of those dots on his face, I threw the branch away and nodded approvingly at my work.

I saw the hatchling stand with a look of wonder on his face. I'm happy he likes it- _he stepped on a line!_ I growl at him and he freezes. He looks down and sees where he stepped. Looking back at me, he lifts his foot. I purr at him until he does it again. He does this a few more times before he finally steps past the line. I feel like he did that on purpose.

As he starts spinning through the lines, he doesn't seem to notice he's coming closer to me. I don't mind, he seems like a nice hatchling. He stops again when he feels my breath on him. Turning, he looks up at me. Slowly, he raises his hand again to touch me. Growling a little, he stops. Then turning his head away, he raises his hand again and leaves it a few inches in front of me.

He's trusting me. He trusts me not to hurt him like I'm trusting him not to hurt me. Slowly, I edge my head forwards, closing my eyes when my nose touches his hand. I feel him tense slightly, then move. I open my eyes, and when we make eye contact. He tenses again and that unknown dragon smell spikes in strength.

I look at him expectantly. He should know now what he is, since all dragons know what a Savior is. He just seems lost though, unsure of what to do. Does he not know? Did his people not tell him the stories?

"U-uh, I'll see you tomorrow, then..." He steps back and all but runs to the small entrance to the outside. I look after him and wonder why he doesn't know how special he is.


	6. What's A Savior?

(Hiccup POV)

As I made my way through the forest, I kept thinking back to that strange feeling I had after I touched the dragon. It felt like I had been suppressed and held down before and suddenly I was able to stand and stretch. Then there was the fact that I had hung out with a dragon all day. It was a rather nice change of pace. There wasn't Gobber's many attempts to make me feel better with random banter, or Zander's constant presence. Not even Gothi's warm home could compare to the relaxing atmosphere of the cove with the dragon. While I will always appreciate them for the help they've given me over the years, they can get overbearing sometimes.

When I walk back into the village, the first thing I notice is the time. The sun has just set over the horizon, yet it still seems like daytime to me. My first thought is _'Wow, I spent all day with a dragon.'_ My second is _'It should not look this bright out.'_ Why does it look so bright? I've always been able to see rather well in the dark, but not this much. I can see all the way to the docks. I shouldn't be able to see that far, let alone at night.

Maybe this has to do with that feeling I got after touching the dragon. That doesn't make much sense, but it's the only thing that was different from before that would make sense. Did the dragon do something to me? I'll have to go back in the morning to find out.

That raises the other question I had all day. Why didn't the dragon speak? I know all the dragons can, so why not him? Just because he's a different dragon type doesn't mean he would be any less capable. He certainly looked intelligent enough to do it. I'll have to ask him when I go back if he wont say anything.

Reaching the house, I look back at the village. The sun has completely gone down and it only looks a little darker than before. I guess that means I have night vision then. I wont complain, but I will be getting an explanation out of Toothless when I go back.  
That thought makes me freeze. Toothless? Why did I call the dragon Toothless? While it makes sense, what with the dragons retractable teeth, it doesn't seem very intimidating. The longer I think it over, the more the name seems to fit. Oh well, you just cant fight these things sometimes.

\- - - -

The next morning, I get up and go over to the forge to see if Gobber needs any help. He isn't usually busy when a nest hunt happens, but there are still some things that need sharpening or repairing. When I walk in, I find he isn't there. No one is outside waiting for him and no tools have been left in the bin for work. Shrugging, I turn to head out the door and bump into Astrid.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Oh, sorry Astrid. Didn't see you there."

She snorts, then glares at me. "I need this sharpened." She shoves her axe into my arms, nearly pushing me over from the force. "What, no please?" She glares even more. "Fine, fine, one sharpened axe coming right up."

"You had better not break it, Useless, or I'll break you." I just snort at that and walk inside. "I mean it! That axe was a gift from my mother." I look back at her. Her mother is one of the few people who didn't go on the nest hunt, needed here to keep things running. _'I wonder what she would do if I told her I made the axe for her as a birthday present.'_

Walking to the grindstone, I pump the pedal and set the axe blade to the stone. I hear her come inside and look around, grabbing random items and putting them back. "Are you gonna buy something else or what? Gobber doesn't like people messing with stuff that they aren't going to buy." I can feel her gaze on my back.

"How did you even know I was looking at stuff? That grindstone is way to loud." Huh. I didn't even notice. Concentrating, I can hear people walking by outside, talking to each other. I can even hear Astrid's breathing if I focus! I wonder if this is because of the thing Toothless did, like with the night vision. "I can hear just fine, I use the grindstone all the time, I'm use to the sound." I hear her scoff and walk back to the entryway. I flip the axe and do the other side. A minute later, I'm done.

"One sharpened axe." I turn and go to hand her back the weapon, but she gets impatient and rips it out of my hands. She steps outside and does a few practice swings before nodding in approval. "Good. Here." She tosses me some coins and walks off. No thanks or anything. Typical. Looking around for anyone else that might need my services, I walk over to the food storage and grab a basket of mixed fish. I figure I'll get one of each to see what Toothless likes.

\- - - -

"Hey Toothless, I brought breakfast! I hope you're hungry."

I walk out of the entrance and wait for Toothless to come over. I see him come out of the cave and bound over as soon as he sees me. I set the basket down and tip it over, letting the fish pour out. _'That should seem disgusting, yet it looks and smells delicious.'_ Clearly, Toothless has no reservations of internal conflicts about a pile of fish, and eagerly dives in.

"Uh, lets see, we have some Salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod, and a whole smoked Eel!" At the word eel, Toothless starts growling and backing up. When I reach in to take the eel out, he rears back with a snarl.

"Whoa, no, no! Yeah, I don't like eel much either..." After I throw the eel back to the entrance, he looks at me consideringly, then dives back into the pile after confirming no more eel are hidden in the stack.

I sit down and wait for him to finish. When he's done, if he still says nothing, I'll start asking the questions. To my relief, it seems I won't have to.

**"Oh, Dragonsess of the Moon, that was good."**

**"Well, I'm glad you liked it."** He starts, whipping to face me. **"You can already speak Dragonese?!"** I stare at him for a second. **"Uh...what?"**

**"Dragonese. You know, the language of the dragons, the thing you're speaking right now...?"**

**"No, I'm sp-"** I freeze. That wasn't Norse. Norse is words and sounds that don't sound like a dragon. What I just said definitely sounded like a dragon.

**"H...how?"**

**"You don't know?"**

**"Know what...?"**

**"How can you not know?! Don't your people teach you anything?!"**

**"To be honest, not really."** He stops and looks at me, then tilts his head.

**"They don't?"**

**"Well, only like, three people have ever really shown me how to do stuff, but none of those things include speaking...Dragonese, you said?"**

He visible deflates when I said that, to the point he could pass for an oddly shaped rock. **"Well how are we suppose to do anything now? Saviors are suppose to know all kinds of things."**

I tilt my head when he says that. **"'Saviors?'"**

**"Oh, well, I don't know much about them. I only got told some stories about what Saviors are suppose to be able to do."**

**"Could you...tell me them? Maybe I can find some stories in the village that match what you tell me."**

He perks right up. **"Sure!"** He walks over to me and lays down behind me, then offers me his side. Not quite sure what to do, I slowly lean back until I'm resting on his side.

 **"Okay, comfy? Good."** He continues on without letting me answer. **"So, the first story I remember is how Saviors are special Vikings that are born with a dragons soul in them, which will let them connect with both other Vikings and dragons. Does that remind you of anything?"**

**"Well, story-wise, no. But the connecting part, yeah. Ever since I could walk, I've been able to hear dragons speaking."**

**"Really? So I didn't have to not say anything when you were here?"**

**"Uh, no. I don't think so."**

**"Oh. Oh well! Now, next story! The second story I remember is the Savior has two other people always with them that they're bound to in different ways. The first is the Bond Dragon. This person is always a dragon, and will be the one to 'activate' the dragon soul in the Savior."**

**"Wait, would that be the feeling I got yesterday after I touched you?"**

**"Most likely. Wait, that means I'm your Bonded! Yay!"** Toothless jumps up, knocking me over in the process, and starts running and jumping everywhere with a look of pure joy on his face. I let him have his fun for a few minutes, but when he shows no signs of stopping, I walk over.

 **"Hey, Toothless! Calm down, you have more stories to tell me, remember?"** He stops mid-leap and looks over at me, then ducks his head, acting sheepish. **"Sorry, I just got really excited."**

 **"Hey, it's alright. I assume being a Savior's Bonded is a big deal."** He perks up again before walking back to where he was laying before, again offering me his side. After I sit down, he starts up again. **"Right, so...where was I?"**

**"You just told me about the Bond Dragon."**

**"Oh, yes. Well, then we have the Guardian. This person always starts as a Viking. After getting chosen by the Gods to be a Guardian, the Viking is taken to a secret island and given a necklace that turns them into a special Dragon Hybrid. They help guide, train, and protect the Savior. Do you know anyone like that?"**

**"Uh, well, I don't know anyone who is a Hybrid, but I know one person who does the training and protecting part."**

**"How can you not know? The Guardian should be quite obvious..."**

**"If there is a person in the village who's a Dragon Hybrid, I suspect they either left or got killed."**

**"What? Why?"**

**"Bud, everyone in the village hates dragons. All of them think you guys are nothing more than 'mindless beasts' that just raid, steal, and destroy."**

**"What? But...dragons aren't like that. Not normally, anyways..."**

**"What do you mean 'not normally'?"**

**"You don't know about _Her_ either?"** I shake my head. **"Do you Vikings know anything?!"**

**"Hey! No need to get so angry. While I agree Vikings aren't the smartest bunch, they've never found a reason for the raids. Granted they don't really look, but that's beside the point."**

**"Oh, so you really don't know, then."** I shake my head again. **"Well, to put it simply, there's this really big dragon at the nest. She lives in this volcano and forces any dragons in the area to steal food for her to eat."**

**"When you say big..."**

**"As big as a mountain. And she's really mean too! She doesn't let anyone get enough food to eat and will eat anyone that doesn't satisfy her."**

**"She... _eats_ other dragons?"** He lowers his head. **"Oh, Toothless, I'm so sorry..."** I lean over and hug him around the neck. We sit there for a while before I try to change the subject.

**"So were there any other stories that you have about Saviors?"**

**"Uh, no. Not that I can remember. The Queen doesn't like us talking about them."** I hug him again and we just sit there against each other for the rest of the day. When the sun goes down, I get up.

**"Sorry, Toothless, I need to go. There might be a thing I have to go to tomorrow that I can't miss."**

**"It's okay. Hey, why do you keep calling me 'Toothless'?"**

**"Oh! Uh, I didn't know your name, so I just started calling you that."**

**"Name? Dragons don't have names."**

**"You don't?"**

**"No. We can just identify each other from smell."**

**"Huh. Well, do you mind if I call you Toothless?"**

**"No. I kinda like the name."**

**"Cool. My name's Hiccup."**

**"Huh. Weird name. I like it!"**

I laugh. **"Well, see you tomorrow, Toothless."**

 **"Bye! Bring more fish! And no eels either!"** I chuckle as I walk away, making sure to grab the eel on my way out. Now that I think about it, this things smells repulsive. No wonder Toothless didn't like it. I wonder if other dragons have the same reaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that both Toothless and Hiccup are 13 in this, so Toothless acting like a kid fits. He will have more serious moments though since growing up in the nest with a Tyrant forces you to grow up pretty quickly.


	7. Accusation and Conflict

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! THIS CHAPTER HAS SEVERE ABUSE AND BLOOD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

(Hiccup POV)

I woke up this morning to more banging on my door. After getting dressed I open the door to a cheerful-looking Gobber.

"We have class again today. We'll - well, you'll - be going against the Deadly Nadder! Be there in a few hours!"

I shut the door and go about my morning routine. Not much needs to be done. I just make breakfast, take a bath if I need one, and walk out the door. Making sure to grab the sword on my way out, I walk to the arena. On the way, I run into Zander.

"Hey Hiccup. I was looking for you the other day. You taking the chance to enjoy the forest while Stoick is gone?" Crap. I still don't know if I should tell him about Toothless.

"U-uh, yeah. I'm gonna be camping out until he gets back."

"Cool. Your usual spot or are you trying another place?" Oh, this is bad. I always go to the cove! I can't say there, he knows where that is and he can't see Toothless yet.

"S-somewhere new."

"Alright. You gonna tell me where or do you want some extra privacy?"

 _"Privacy!"_ He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "Okay...well, have fun. Don't get lost or anything." He teases. He knows the forest is basically my home, I've never gotten lost before. I'm just glad he didn't question me any further.

We walk up to the arena and see Astrid and Fishlegs there already. When they see us, Fishlegs gives a small wave and Astrid glares.

"No Gobber yet?" Zander asks.

"Uh, no, he's in the arena. Said he had to set something up." Fishlegs responds.

We all stand around awkwardly until the Twins and Snotlout show up. All three leer at me, giving me a strong sense of foreboding. Zander sees them looking and shoot them a look which gets them all to turn away. After a few more minutes, Gobber comes out.

"Alright you lot, get inside and head to the middle of the arena." He walks to the spectator stands while the rest of us head inside. The thing Gobber had to set up turns out to be a large maze. Gobber's voice makes us look up.

"Here's the Deadly Nadder." With that, he pulls the outer lever and opens the Nadders cage. I catch some last snippets of conversation from the dragons.

 **"Remember, the special hatchling is the small skinny one!"** I think that was the Gronkle.

 **"Yeah, I got it already!"** The young female voice responds. I think that might be the Nadder then.

All of us scatter when the Nadder jumps on the walls. We hear Gobber's far too calm and bored sounding voice from the stands again.

"Today is all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter." After making sure the Nadder isn't nearby with my new enhanced hearing, I decide to ask Gobber about those stories Toothless told me.

"Hey, Gobber! Do there happen to be any stories or legends about people that can end wars just be hearing about them? Maybe having some special powers or something?" Before Gobber can answer, Zander comes up and pulls me back, keeping me from getting hit by the Nadder's flame that was aimed for my weapon.

"Focus Hiccup! Your not even trying!" The Nadder gives a squawk and chases after us. She jumps on the walls to try and get to us, but we manage to lose her. I hear the sound of Nadder spines flicking up and embeding themselves in wood.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Poor, poor Fishlegs. He knows nothing of the pain. "Try being his apprentice for eight years then Fishlegs!" I hear Gobber's offended scoff. "You know you love me toothpick."

We round another corner before Gobber gives more advice. "Every dragon has a blind spot. Find it, hide in it, and strike!" We run down a hallway and see the Nadder run past, then skid to a halt. The Twins start bickering again.

"Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, then get your own blind spot!"

"How about I give you one?!" I hear their helmets clang together before I hear them screaming and the sound of dragon fire.

"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." He is acting way to casual about us almost dying. I split up from Zander to talk to Gobber again. "Hey, you never answered my question. Are there any stories like that?"

"Vikings don't like reading Hiccup. You know that. Now get in there!"

"Oh, come on! Aren't there any stories like that? War hero's and stuff?"

"Hiccup!" I turn to see Astrid and Snotlout crouched next to a wall. She motions for me to get down, with Snotlout copying her. Deciding to entertain them, I do just that. Astrid peeks around the corner and spots the Nadder, who seems to be looking around for something. When the Nadder turns, Astrid rolls to the other wall, keeping in the Blind Spot. Snotlout follows her, then they both look at me expectantly.

I just give them a flat look and turn away, taking a different path around the Nadder. They both look rather angry about that. _"Hiccup!"_ Astrid's shout gets the Nadders attention and she jumps onto the walls again, looking at both of them. I hear Astrid move, likely preparing to throw her axe, then hear Snotlout push her back.

"Relax babe, I got this." I hear him throw his mace instead. It hits the ground outside the arena a second later and I hear the Nadders laughter. **"You are stupid, hatchling. Did you not learn to never throw your weapon?"**

I hear Astrid punch Snotlout, then start running. "The sun was in my eyes Astrid. What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now." The Nadder gives chase. **"Hey! Come back here!"**

After making my way back to Gobber, I try to get another answer out of him. "I know Vikings don't bother with reading, but there have to be stories like that, right? Like, about War Hero's and stuff?" Gobber looks past me and looks like he might actually seem concerned for us. "Hiccup-"

"Hiccup!" I turn around in time for Astrid to jump from a wall and land on me, her newly sharpened axe slicing through my shield with ease and cutting into my arm some, causing me to hiss in pain.

"Ooh, love on the battlefield." Now is not the time, Tuff!

"Eh, she could do better." She looks at Zander when she says that and gives a sultry look. He screws up his face while running for us.

Behind Astrid, I hear the Nadder give an angry squawk. **"Hey! Get off the special hatchling violent hatchling!"** When she starts charging, Astrid begins thrashing, trying to get untangled from me to turn around, driving the axe head farther into my arm in the process. When she finally is able to stand up, she starts pulling on the axe, trying to get it out of my shield. She puts her foot on my face in the process.

"Here- just let me- why don't you-" Zander shows up and helps pull it out. When they do get it out, Astrid shoves Zander away and bashes the Nadders head with the flat of her axe. Mildly stunned by the blow, she backs off a bit, giving Gobber time to come up and force her into the cage. She tries fighting him, looking at me while she does.

 **"No! I smell blood! We need to help him!"** Gobber, again oblivious to the pleas, locks her back in the cage. I take the shield off my arm and clutch the wound while Astrid rounds on me.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?! Our parents war is about to become ours and you have the nerve to ask about kid stories. Your never going to be a Viking! You shouldn't even be the Heir with how Useless you are. You need to figure out which side your on." With that, she walks away like she won something. She freezes when she hears me.

"And why should that side be yours?" I get up, still clutching my arm.

She slowly turns around. "What?"

"Why should I be on your side when all you ever do is hurt me? Treat me like I'm lower than a slave?"

"Vikings are suppose to be tough. Suppose to be able to fight. You can barely do that, so why should we even care?"

"How _dishonorable_." She looks completely taken back by that. So do the others.

"You say I have to be able to fight. That I have to be tough. I can do and be both, but none of you care. And if I'm the Heir, shouldn't you treat me like it? You could get in big trouble for abusing the Heir like you do." My tone is icy, quiet but just loud enough to be heard.

"Want to know something? I made that axe. The one that you value so much that was given to you by your mother. I made it as a birthday present for your tenth birthday as a gift, and asked your mother to give it to you, since I knew you would never accept it from me." She looks at her axe, as if seeing it for the first time. She doesn't notice the blood on it. "You made this...?" She sounds so subdued, it's rather satisfying.

"I made a lot of weapons that this tribe uses. All of them are quality work, have never gotten worse than a dent. Look what it can do." I take my hand off my arm and show it to her. It's covered in blood, which is starting to form a puddle on the floor. When she sees it she goes pale.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to Gothi's. Zander, care to help he out? I'm feeling kinda dizzy." He rushes over and grabs my arms, one of his hands behind me and the other on my shoulder. "Just keep your hand on the wound, we'll be there in no time."  


We both walk out of the arena. The trainees and few spectators are left stunned, looking at the blood left on the floor.

\- - - -

Gothi looks at my wound with concern. It wouldn't have been that bad if Astrid hadn't kept jostling the axe when it was still in my arm. She has Zander help her out with cleaning and bandaging the wound. When all is said and done, she has me lay down on one of the beds she has here. After a while, Gobber shows up.

"Hey, lad. How are you feeling?"

"Just a little dizzy. No big deal." I go to sit up but all three present fix me with their stares until I lay back down.

"Are you sure? That looked like a lot a' blood you lost."

I just wave him off. "Eh, I've had worse." None of them look particularly reassured by that comment.

He clears his throat. "Well, we're having the class dinner on the catapult tower tonight for a little bonfire. If Gothi says you can, I'd like you to come." We all look at Gothi for confirmation, and she gives a small nod. Gobber brightens.

"Excellent! I'll see you there then, laddie." With that, he makes his way back out the door, probably to get the stuff for the dinner together. Gothi tapping her staff makes Zander and I look at her. With me stuck on the bed, Zander goes over to translate for her.

After some scratching, Zander nods to her then turns to me. "Alright, she says that you can go, but only if I take you. For now, she wants you to rest up so you can regain some strength."

I give a nod, and he nods back. After a small bow to Gothi, he leaves, off to train and give Astrid a piece of his mind, most likely. Gothi comes over and offers me some tea, which I know has some painkillers in it. "Thank you." She nods and walks off, to do whatever it is she does here. After drinking my fill, I lay back down.

I can't help but feel bad. I told Toothless I would be back today. He's probably worried I left him. I would sneak out, but Gothi is deceptively fast and always seems to know when her patients want to escape. Choosing to apologize with an extra large basket of fish, I close my eyes and try to sleep.

\- - - -

"...and with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole. I saw the look on his face. I was delicious! He must have spread the word, because it wasn't a month later that another one took my leg."

I've heard this story way too many times. He tells it to anyone who will listen. And being his apprentice, I've heard it almost every time.

"Isn't it weird to think your hand is still inside a dragon? Like, if you still had control of it you could kill the dragon from the inside? By like, crushing its heart, or something."

Everyone just looks at him with varying emotions. Zander and I look at him with disgust. The Twins look at him with something like wonder mixed with _'are you stupid?'_ Astrid, Snotlout and Gobber look at him with only the _'are you stupid?'_ look. Snotlout saves us with a comment that's just as stupid.

"I swear, I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll cut off the hands and feet of every dragon I fight. With my face!" See exhibit a) the boy with half a brain cell.

"Uh-uh. It's the wings and tails you want. If it cant fly, it cant get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon." I realize something when he said that. Toothless can't fly. Half his tail fin is gone. That means he's going to die if he can't get back in the air!

"Alright, I'm off to bed. You should be too. Soon we'll be going after the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who will win the honor of killing it?" Putting my fish down, I sneak out of the group and make my way to the forge. I can still hear the others banter.

"It's gonna be me. It's my destiny, see?"

Fishlegs gasped. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?"

"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark."

"Uh, I've been with you since birth, and that has never been there before."

"Yes it has! You've just never seen me from the left side until now."

I feel someone's gaze on me, but I shrug it off and keep going. "Hey Zander! Which one of us is stronger?" I heard him groan then what sounded like a fist meeting a face.

\- - - -

Making it to the forge, I get to work. I redraw the tail fin and start making schematics for a life size one. I gather some scrapped swords and nails from shields that were going to be reused anyways and won't be missed.

Some hammering, redesigning, and cooling later and I have the metal skeleton of the tail fin. Next, I find some scrap leather and cut out the shape I need. One that's done, I stitch it and put it all together.

Looking at my completed project, I snap it shut. Now letting my fatigue catch up with me, I get hit with a massive wave of dizziness. Knowing I won't make it back to the house, I set the tail fin down in the back room and pull out the cot Gobber lets me keep back here for nights like this. As soon as I get it pulled out, I collapse on it and fall asleep minutes later.

\- - - -

Waking up, I'm a bit confused at first since I'm not sure where I am. Then I remember last night and building the tail fin. Knowing Gobber will be here soon, I gather my things and run over to the food storage. Looking through the baskets, I pull one out and make sure no eels are in it, then throw in some more fish until I can barely close it. Going to the door, I look around to make sure no one is around. Leaving with a basket of fish that has this much in it is rather suspicious. Me leaving with a basket of fish with this much in it even more so.

Deeming it safe, I make my way to the house. Since I told Zander I was, and since I'm sure Toothless won't mind, I'm going to camp out at the cove for the next while until Stoick comes back.

I put the fish and tail fin by the back door and go up to my room, grabbing a bag and filling it with more clothes and writing materials. Remembering my journal under the bed, I pull it out to add a few more tallies. Three go into _'I Was Treated Nicely'_ with a Z, G, and T. One goes in _'Beaten By Others'_. I put the journal back and look around for anything else I might need.

Realizing I might need some forging tools, I take the bag and put it with the others. Then head out the door to the forge. As I'm passing the corner of the house, a hand grabs me and pulls me around back, out of sight of the street. I'm slammed against the wall and find myself surrounded by Astrid, Snotlout and the Twins. I see Snotlout has a nasty black eye and Astrid is favoring her side. Must have gotten those from Zander.

"U-uh, hey guys. W-what's up?" I already know what's up, but that doesn't mean I have to be rude.

"You tried to kill my princess, that's what."

"W-when did I do t-that?"

Astrid steps up. "Yesterday. During class. You got in my way. Then you had the nerve to call me dishonorable." The finalizes the statement with a punch to the stomach. After a brief coughing fit, I look back at her.

"W-well, I'm n-not wrong, a-am I?" It was more a statement than a fact. She answers with another punch to the stomach.

"No one gets to tell my princess off like that, Useless. Least of all you."

That's the last I hear of that. Snotlout comes forwards with a punch to the face, then Astrid follows up with one to the face as well. I go to cover my head, but the Twins grab my arms and hold them out so I cant defend myself. Snotlout sneers. "Not so tough now, are you?"

I don't know how long I was there. What I do know is Astrid and Snotlout had looks of pure hate and rage in their eyes, and the Twins didn't look much better. Punch after punch was given, and when the Twins let go, I got a solid kick to the ribs, then stomach, which sent me to the ground coughing. They didn't let up. The Twins joined in on the fun and spared no mercy. I was kicked in the head, face, chest, back, stomach, legs, anywhere they could reach.

I didn't realize they had finished until I heard their fading laughter. I would have taken stock if my injuries, but I could barely move without feeling pain. Slowly, painfully, I pulled myself to all fours, then crawled back inside. I got to the fire pit before collapsing from the pain, then fell into blissful unconsciousness.

\- - - -

It was evening by the time I woke back up. The pain had lessened somewhat, but it still hurt to move. I managed to get myself into a sitting position and looked down at my body to see what was injured. If I wasn't so use to seeing blood and bruises, I likely would have fainted.

No part of me was free of discolored skin. Everywhere was a nasty blue, black or purple. Lightly pushing on my ribs, I winced. I likely had fractured or broken ribs then. I found a few cuts on my arms and stomach, likely from a dagger. I touched my face and found dried blood from a split lip. I think it's a miracle I my eyes aren't swollen shut. My hair is caked in dried blood, and now that I look, I'm lying in a small pool of my own blood.

How I was even still alive was beyond me. I'm a small person, which means a very small amount of blood. It looks like I lost at least a third of it just today, not counting what I lost from yesterday.

Knowing I have to get out of the village, I painfully make my way to my feet. When I start walking, I stumble a bit, wincing when I put weight on my ankle. It must have been sprained. I make my way to the bag, basket and tail fin. Looking at all of them, I know I won't be able to carry all of it in this condition. I take some of the fish out and put them in the house storage, and decide to leave the extra clothes entirely since I have more at the cove already.

I strap the tail fin to the basket and lift it up. I nearly fall over from the simple exertion, but push through it. Wincing when the basket hits my back, I push open the back door and head for the forest. It takes me a few hours to make the trip since I have to keep stopping from the blood loss or exhaustion. When I finally make it into the cove, I feel immense relief.

 **"H-hey, T-toothless. I-I'm here..."** The last thing I see is Toothless' look of horror as I fall forwards, unconscious.

\- - - -

(Dark-Wing POV)

I'm worried. Hiccup (that was his name, right?) hasn't come back yet. When he left two days ago, he said he would come back the next day after he did something in his nest. Did something happen to him? Did he forget about me? I wish I could get out of this cove to find him.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear someone very noisily making their way through the woods nearby. Instinctively, I rush to the cave to hide, but stop just outside of it when a horrible stench reaches my nose. Whoever is out there is seriously hurt. The smell of blood is almost overwhelming. It makes me want to puke, though nothing would come up anyways. Someone comes out of the cove entrance and I freeze when I see who it is.

Hiccup did come back. I can smell the fish he brought and some metal and leather thing too. What horrifies me is Hiccup himself, or more appropriately, how he looks.

Blood is everywhere. His hair, coverings, skin. His skin is even worse, all black and blue. He looks so relieved to have made it here.

 **"H-hey, T-toothless. I-I'm here..."** Then his eyes roll up into his skull and he falls, unconscious.

His head hitting the ground snaps me out of it. _**"HICCUP!"**_ I rush forwards and start prodding and sniffing him. He has no reaction, but the smells. These horrible smells are overwhelming his wonderful metal-smoke-forest smell. As gently as I can, I flip him over to see his front. Knowing I can't help him unless I get these coverings off, I use my claws and teeth to remove them.

Starting with his top covering, I hook the top with a claw and shred the already shredded cloth and pull it off and with I hadn't. His chest and stomach are just as covered in bruises, but there are also cuts. Weapon cuts. There are at least six I can see. Pushing through what I see, I set to work cleaning his wounds as best I can with a heavy coating of saliva.

Pushing him over again, I set to work on his back, where another three cuts are. I move to his arms and find a rather nasty gash on his right arm. This one looks about a day old. Maybe this is why he didn't come back yesterday, something did hurt him.  


Finished with that, I move to his lower coverings. I claw them loose where they meet his torso and use my teeth to pull them off his legs. They aren't as bad as the rest of him, but still need attention. Thankfully, only one cut is down here, on his calf. Giving his legs a good coating on saliva, I flip him to his front again to get a good look at all of him.

He looks so small and frail, so scarred. I smell him again to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'm relieved to find the smell of blood is nearly gone. I also catch the scents of others. At least four other scents are on him, and they all have hate and anger in them. That worries me. I know he isn't liked in his village, but for this to happen? I know I won't be able to do anything right now, since I can't get out, and since I can't leave Hiccup here alone.

Sighing, I swear to get those who hurt him back. To make them feel as much pain as he did. I get him onto my back and take him to the cave. I set him down and grab him in my paws before wrapping him in my wings. Then I lay down and curl up. I give his head one last lick before watching the outside. If those who hurt him dare come here, they will find no mercy.


	8. Story Of My Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This chapter has mentions of abuse and attempted suicide! You have been warned!

(Hiccup POV)

The first thing I was aware of is how warm I felt. The second was the slightly moving thing I was resting on. Reluctantly, I opens my eyes. Darkness greeted me, though if it was from it being night time or from somewhere dark, I wasn't sure. Reaching out, I felt my hand brush against a scaly membrane, which twitched when I touched it. The wing moved back some to reveal a flat head with two concerned looking neon green eyes.

 **"Hiccup? Are you alright?"** I look at him questioningly. **"Yeah...why wouldn't I be?"** He looks absolutely affronted by that. **"Why wouldn't you be? Why wouldn't you be?! You've been unconscious for almost an entire day after you came down here covered in blood!"**

All at once the last day come back to me, so suddenly and strongly it has me gasping for air. Making the tail fin, gathering my things, getting cornered and beaten to death, making my painful way to the cove. I start panicking and thrashing, but Toothless hold me tightly to him so I can't hurt myself any more.

Eventually, I calm down and realize Toothless has been purring and whispering pointless reassurances. I reach up and clutch his neck, refusing to let go until I'm sure I'm safe.

Taking a few deep breaths, I pull back. **"Thank you..."** He responds by licking my face. I go to wipe off the slobber but he stops me. **"No, don't get rid of it. Dark-Wing saliva has extreme healing properties."**

**"It does?"**

**"Yeah, all dragons have healing saliva, but Dark-Wing saliva is strongest."** I look down at myself. **"That would explain why I don't hurt so much..."** I trail off when I realize something. **"Toothless, why am I naked?"** He looks confused. **"'Naked'?"**

**"My clothes, Toothless. What did you do with my clothes."**

**"Oh! You mean your coverings?"** I nod. **"I had to take them off to clean all of you."** I blush fiercely when he said that. I figure dragons don't really have a sense of modesty, but still. **"Hey, are you sure you're okay? Your face just changed color again."**

 **"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine. U-uh, can I get up please?"** He lets go of me and I all but jump off of him. Looking around, I see we're in the cove's cave. **"Hey, where's my bag?"**

 **"The one that was already here, or the one you brought yesterday?"** Right. I brought him more fish. **"Uh, both."**

**"The one that was already here is behind me, the other one is still outside."**

**"Okay. Did you have any of the fish I brought in that bag?"** I point outside.

**"Why would I bother with fish when you were dying?!"**

**"Fair enough. Why don't you go eat then while I get dressed?"**

**"You mean put those coverings back on?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"I will after you let me check you over again. You still look horrible and I don't want to take chances."** While I know he doesn't mean anything by 'checking me over', I still blush hard. **"U-uh, yeah. Sure. Okay."** He looks at me funny, but doesn't say anything about it.  


He gets up and walks to my front, sniffing and lightly prodding as he goes. He checks my arms next, then moves around to my back. I jolt some when he pokes my butt, then shiver when he brushes my legs. He comes back around to my front and goes up my legs. When he's about to get to reach my nether region, I stop him.

 **"T-that area is fine, buddy."** He looks up at me. **"Are you sure? I'm just making sure."** I'm pretty sure I'm red as a tomato by this point. **"Yes. Absolutely fine."**

 **"If you're sure."** He backs up and keeps glancing over at me. **"I know you probably don't want to, but I want to know what happened."** My tone gets somber with that. **"I suppose that's fair. Can we do that after you've eaten, though? It might take a bit and I don't want you to wait on my account."**

 **"Fine. As soon as I'm done, we will."** He walks out of the cave and over to the basket that was left outside. After he leaves, I grab the other bag and pull out some undies and pants, but no shirt since I haven't brought any others here. Before I get changed, I decide to take a quick bath in the pond.

I walk out and see Toothless gorging on fish, having ripped the basket open to get to them. Oh well, one less basket isn't that big of a deal. When I reach the water edge, I take a proper look at myself now that I can really see myself. My legs are only slightly discolored, having taken the least amount of hits, but the cut on my calf is still there, only having been sealed up. My arms are still seriously discolored, but when I push on the bruises, they don't hurt at all. The one cut from Astrid's axe has sealed over as well. My guess is Toothless' saliva is numbing the pain, which I'm grateful for. My chest and stomach aren't much better, and all but one cut has sealed. The only one that hasn't is on my ribs, just over my heart. That thought is rather unnerving. Turning to look at my back, it's in the same state. I look at the water to see my face. I have two black eyes, and my one cheek and upper lip are slightly swollen. My hair is really messy and caked in dried blood and saliva.

Setting my clothes on some rocks, I make my slow way into the water. The cold is biting, but not so bad I can't take a quick dunk. I scrub my hair clean, them focus on the cuts. Gently, so they don't re-open, I scrub them to make sure no grime is on them.  


When I'm done, I get out of the water and see Toothless waiting for me. Since I don't have a towel, I walk over to where some sunlight is coming in and sit down, Toothless walks behind me and lays down for me to rest on him. **"Okay. So, what happened that the others in your nest would hurt you so bad?"**

 **"Well, they said it was from something I said, but I know it was more than that."** I take a deep breath and start from the beginning, around when I was three and Snotlout started pushing me around for being so small. To how the Twins joined in because they thought is was funny.

To when I was four and Stoick railed on me for a fire the Twins started. To when Stoick tried to train me and simply gave up and called me a failure because I couldn't lift his hammer.

To when I was five and Stoick dumped me off on Gobber because he couldn't be bothered to care of his own failure of a son. To when I told Fishlegs not to be my friend anymore, so he wouldn't get made fun of like me.

To when I was six and I was yelled at for burning down another tribes forge when it was the other kids that did it. To when I was thrown down the well by "Fist Club" and left there for hours because no one bothered to help me out.

To when I was seven and Stoick first beat me for trying to help during a raid. To when I was publicly humiliated by Stoick for trying to make a fire-prevention system.

To when I was eight and stayed in the woods for months without anyone trying to search for me, only to get beaten severely by Stoick for 'making him worry'. To when I was locked in the house for months because I couldn't be trusted outside.

To when I was nine and my father stopped letting me explain and refused to listen to me. To when I was blamed for an outcast attack because Stoick wouldn't listen to my warning.

To when I was ten and visiting Heirs used me for target practice. To when I was almost drowned by Dagur and the other teens just stood by and watched.

To when I was eleven and first tried committing suicide. To when I was beaten for being a coward.

To when I was twelve and tried jumping off a cliff. To when some dragons burned down the house and Stoick blamed me for the raid in the first place.

To now, when Stoick forced me into dragon training. To when the other teens beat me to death.

By the time I was done, I was out of tears. Several times I had to stop and cling to the dragon with strength I didn't know I had to sob my heart out. It hurt needing to remember all of those horrible things, but it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted by the time I was done.

Toothless had been silent the entire time, and if the look on his face was anything to go by, he was really wanting to go and murder the entire village.

 **"I-I'm sorry, Toothless."** He jerks around to face me, surprise and confusion on his face. **"What? Why are you saying sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for!"**

**"I'm sorry for getting you involved in my life. You shouldn't have had to listen to me rant about my problems."**

He looks affronted by that, and the next thing I know he's pinning me.

**"Hiccup, you have nothing to be sorry for. It isn't your fault you had to go through all that stuff. And it sounds like you needed to get all that stuff off your chest anyways. Besides, that's what friends are for, right?"**

I felt another surge of emotion from that and hugged him again.

**"T-thank you, Toothless. You have no idea how much all this means to me."**

When I pull back, I get another face full of saliva. I don't mind, it shows he cares. He gets off of me and lays down, and I move to lean against him. We both just sit there for a while, enjoying the others company and the sun shining on us. I don't remember laying in the sun feeling this good before. I look over at Toothless and see he has his eyes closed. I know he isn't sleeping, so he must be enjoying this as much as me. Looking past him, I see the trashed basket and tail fin.

**"Hey Toothless, you want to try something?"**

He opens his eyes and looks at me. **"Sure. What is it?"** I get up and walk over to grab the tail fin, then walk back to where Toothless is now sitting. **"What's that?"** He leans down and starts sniffing it. **"It's a surprise. Just keep still for me, okay?"**

 **"Okay..."** I walk around behind him and sit on his tail. I put the tail fin down next to it and start strapping it on. While I'm doing this, I feel Toothless squirming around. Choosing to focus on attaching the tail fin, I finish tightening the straps.

 **"There. Not too bad, it works..."** Then I'm clinging to his tail for dear life as the ground gets further and farther away. **"Whoa, no! No no no!"** We start tilting and falling back to the ground. I look at the tail fin and see the wind is keeping it shut. Reaching out, I grab it and force it open. Catching the air, we shoot back up.

 **"I-it's working! Yes! It's working!"** I pull on the fin and bring us back down over the cove's pond. **"Yes! I did it!"**

 **"Hiccup! Get off my tail!"** Before I can answer, I'm flying off his tail and skipping over the water. I hear another splash and jump out of the water. **"Yeah!"**

Swimming to shore, I climb out and see Toothless join me a second later. He looks torn between being happy and annoyed. He went with annoyed.

**"Why were you on my tail, Hiccup?"**

**"Uh, I was working your 'surprise'."** He brings his tail around and sees the fake tail fin. **"My tail fin isn't back?"** He sounds so sad by that.

**"N-no, it isn't. I made this one so you would be able to fly."**

**"You made this? Cool! But why didn't it work?"**

**"Because the force of the wind was keeping it shut. When I was on your tail I was holding it open."** He seems to realize what throwing me off did. **"Oh. Oops."** I snort. **"Yeah. Oops."** Then I find myself once more pinned by several tons of dragon with another face full of slobber. **"Thank you so much for doing this!"**

 **"Hey, what are friends for? Besides, it's my fault you lost it..."** He stops and looks at me. **"What do you mean your fault?"** I look away. **"I...I made the machine that shot you down. I-if I hadn't made that, you would still be free to fly whenever yo-"** I'm cut off by a rather forceful lick.

 **"If losing my tail fin means meeting you, then I would gladly lose it again. Sure, you may have made the thing that shot me down, but it wasn't you who made the shot. If I don't blame you for this-"** He waves his tail over my head. **"-then you shouldn't either."**  


I reach up and hug him again. **"Thank you, Toothless. I promise I will get you in the air again."** He gives me more slobber in reply.


	9. A Bit of Justice

(Hiccup POV)

I reached the edge of the forest just as the sun started coming up. Looking around with my newly enhanced vision, I made sure no one was around. It took quite a bit of convincing on my part to get Toothless to let me come back here, and as much as I would have rather stayed in the cove with him, we didn't have much choice.

The two main factors I won with were getting food and the rest of my things, and making the tail fin. Since he can't fly, he cant fish. Since he cant fish, I have to bring him food. The only places I can get food are the village, or fishing in a lake or river. Since the only place I can work on the tail fin is the forge, I would have to come to the village anyways.

We agreed that every two days, I would come in, go to dragon training, work on the tail fin, then go back. Since the pond in the cove has fish, I can go fishing there until I get Toothless back in the air. The one extra step for today is stopping by the house to grab the extra supplies I need to stay at the cove for an extended period of time.

I made it to the back of the house and edged open the door. The first thing that drew my attention was the dried pool of blood next to the fireplace. It made me shiver. I spotted my bag of things by the door still, and saw nothing else out of place, which means no one has been here since I left. While that does bother me, I know it only makes sense. I told Zander that I was out camping, and he would have likely told Gobber the same, so neither of them would have had a reason to come here.

I slip inside and head to my room. I grab another bag and stuff the rest of my things in it before putting it back downstairs by the other bag. Then I go to the kitchen to make sure I still have some food to take. Checking inside, I see I'll have to stop by the Great Hall to get a few more things. Leaving that to grab for later, I go to the storage room and take out my fishing rod, skinning knife, and small axe. Putting all three by the rest of my things, I go to leave before hearing rapid steps approaching the door.

I only have seconds to duck as wood splinters go flying above my head from the door getting smashed open. Looking up, I see a very panicked and worried Zander. He immediately sets his sight on me, then on the pool of blood on the floor. He ignores it and rushes over to me, checking me over.

"Hiccup! What happened?! I was on my way up here to leave you a note about class today and I see a trail of blood on the ground!"

He takes in my slightly disheveled appearance and the fading bruises that he can see. His face becomes one of barely contained rage. "It was the others, wasn't it? They came and beat you for what you said during training last time. Dang it, I knew I should have come to check up on you that morning!"

I put my hands out. "Hey! It's okay. I told you I was camping in the woods, you didn't know." He rounds on me. "No, it most definitely is _not_ okay! Look at how much blood is on the floor! How are you even still _alive?!_ That much blood loss should have _killed_ you!"

"I don't really know, what I do know is that you should calm down some." He takes a few deep breaths, grimacing from what I assume is the smell of blood, and relaxes some. "Okay, okay. Sorry for yelling at you. It just makes me so angry that your own people would do that to you just because they cant accept the truth." He looks me over again, then turns back to the half destroyed door.

"Well, I'm gonna guess you don't want to stay here for longer than you have too. But for while you are here, we'll have to do something about the other teens. They cant get away from something like this."

"U-uh, I'd really rather not bring more wrath down on myself if it's all the same to you." He looks at me. I can tell he isn't joking. "No. This has gone on far too long. While I could accept not wanting to get back at them or not wanting to get in more trouble, I cant anymore. Hiccup, you could have literally _died_ from this. I know you don't want too, but you need to tell at least Gobber."

What he said made me realize he's right. So long as I let it happen, it won't stop. While I won't go so far as revenge, I will start fighting back. "You're right. I can't just let them keep walking over me." He smiles. "That's more like it. Now, since I know you can defend yourself, I won't worry about that. But I do recommend getting a weapon of your own. Something you can keep on yourself should the others decide to pull something on you."

As soon as he said that, several weapon ideas flash through my head. "Could you maybe...I dunno...help me make one? I know what I like to use, but I'm not sure which I would be best at." He pats me on the shoulder - lightly, so he doesn't aggravate the bruises - and starts for the door. "Sure. What I'm thinking is once you heal, I give you an intense training session to see what you do best at, so you can narrow down your options. Sound good?" I hurry to catch up, and we both walk out the door in the direction of the forge. "Sounds good."

\- - - -

I'm not sure what exactly Gobber is feeling at the moment. We caught him on the way to the blacksmith, and asked to speak in private. When he saw the bruises, he had a pretty good idea of why we wanted to talk. Both Zander and I knew that if this was to stop, Gobber would need to get involved since the other teens would listen to him, at least until Stoick got back. Then Gobber could convince him of what has been going on and get Stoick to punish - or at least stop - the teens.

After a few moments of silence, he regains the ability to speak. "They did _WHAT?!"_

I sigh. "They beat me just outside of my house and left me for dead. I don't know how I survived, but I did."

He takes a moment to collect himself, then in a deathly quiet voice: "They are gonna feel it today."

Zander and I look at each other, then back at Gobber. "Alright. I'll talk to the teens today before trainin' starts. I agree that you should stay out in the woods until Stoick gets back. I'll leave a list of things for you to do after trainin' each day, and when you're done, you can head on back to wherever you're stayin'."

We both smile at that. Zander since Gobber is going to help, and me since that will give me the excuse I need to make the tail fin. All three of us head out and go towards the arena, where the other trainees will receive judgement from Gobber.

\- - - -

As we hoped, we were the first to arrive. Gobber told me and Zander to hide behind the weapons rack so he could ask the other teens questions and gauge their reactions. Since they would be less likely to be honest with Zander there for fear of getting a solid punch to the face, they needed to think he wasn't there. And since they would likely think I wouldn't show up, I couldn't be seen either.

Astrid was the first to arrive as usual. She looked rather smug and proud of herself. We could guess why. The Twins were next, looking rather somber. That was a bit of a surprise, to be honest. Fishlegs was next. Since he wasn't part of the group that beat me, he would likely be spared Gobber's wrath. He did look somewhat nervous though. Snotlout was the last to arrive, looking even more arrogant than usual.

Gobber called them all to the center of the arena so their backs would be to the rack Zander and I were hiding behind.

"Alright, you lot. Have any of you seen Hiccup? He didn't show up for work yesterday." Fishlegs looked even more nervous while the Twins shared a glance. Snotlout and Astrid just looked bored. Astrid was the one who answered. "No, sir. We haven't seen him since dinner after the last training session."

"None of you would happen to know where he went then, would ya?" All of them looked slightly confused by the answer, since they all likely figured I wouldn't be going anywhere. Snotlout answered this time. "Why would we care where Useless goes? He's Useless!"

"Oh really? Then why were you lot seen headed for his house the next day?" Fishlegs paled and the Twins shared another glance. Snotlout looked panicked but Astrid kept her cool. Astrid answered again. "We went to apologize to him, sir. We realized he was right about what he said at the end of class."

"You apologized, eh? Why do I find that hard to believe?" Before anyone could do anything, the Twins answered. "Because it's a lie." Ruff continued for Tuff. "Yeah, we went to teach..." She drew in a breath. "Teach him a lesson." Snotlout and Astrid whipped to face them, and Fishlegs looked relieved. Snotlout attempted for a recovery. "Haha, you guys are _hilarious."_ He emphasized that with a glare. "We didn't go to 'teach him a lesson', we went to beat him for-" He seemed to realize his mistake, since Astrid punched him. Hard. "You mutton-heads, your going to get us in trouble!"

Gobber looked on impassively, with a smug smile. "Oh? Well, what is it then? Did you apologize, teach him a lesson, or beat him?" Snotlout answered, not realizing it was a trick question. "We beat him, duh." He got another punch from Astrid.

Gobber turned serious. "So you four admit to going to the _Chief's house_ to beat Hiccup for speaking the truth?" Snotlout paled considerably, and Astrid scowled. The Twins gave a nod, seemingly regretful. Fishlegs also looked regretful, with a bit of relief thrown in.

"Then I want you lot to apologize - and _mean it_ \- to Hiccup." Snotlout scowled and Astrid looked positively livid at that. Snotlout answered. "Why do we have to apologize to Useless? He got what he deserved! Besides, that waste of space is probably dead by now." The way he said that so casually had me desperately trying, and failing, to hold back Zander. Gobber saw him approach but did nothing to stop him or warn Snotlout.

Zander marched right up to Snotlout, spun him around, and delivered one of the hardest punches I've ever seen or heard. Everyone cringed at the sound of crunching bone. Snotlout was to stunned to scream. " _HOW_ can you say that about your own cousin?! He's suppose to be your _family!_ You would probably be _happy_ he died, huh? It would give you a one way ticket to being Heir! How could you ever expect to be Chief if you just killed anyone who opposed you?" He kicked Snotlout in the ribs, and everyone cringed again at the sound of more bones crunching.

Gobber came over and was able to pull Zander away from him before he did more damage, but didn't look upset at the treatment Snotlout got. "Fishlegs, take Snotlout to Gothi's. Come back here when you're done." Fishlegs gave a nod and pulled Snotlout to his feet, before leading him out of the arena. Gobber turned to the other three.

"I didn't stop Zander because after what you did to Hiccup, you all deserve much more punishment than that, which is just what your going to get." The Twins' eyes went wide and they took a few steps back. Astrid fixed Zander and Gobber with a heated glare, as if daring them to try something.

Gobber, seeing their looks, clarified. "No, not like that ya nitwits! I mean punishment as in chores and jobs you get ta' do until Stoick gets back." The Twins relaxed some while Astrid kept glaring. "Now, based on how well you apologize will determine how much you get to do. Hiccup! Come over here." At his call, I come out from behind the weapons rack and approach the others, who are legitimately surprised to see me up and walking.

I stop several feet from them and wait. The Twins share another look and take a few steps forwards, well aware of the looming threat of Zander and Gobber behind them. "Hey, Us- I mean, Hiccup. I'm sorry for doing that to you. Snotlout roped us into helping and we let it get way to far." Ruffnut continued for him. "Yeah, while we did help, we regret letting them go so far with it. I'm sorry." All of us were surprised by the sincere apology from the both of them. I gave them both a small nod and looked to Gobber.

"Alright then. Since you two gave sincere apologies, all you have to do is help the dock workers all day, every day until the nest hunt gets back." Both of them looked somewhat relieved by that since we all know Gobber can come up with rather unique ways of punishing people. We all looked at Astrid next.

"Fine. I'm sorry for beating you black and blue for what you said. Even if you did deserve it." I expected as much. She cant accept defeat in anything. "Astrid, since you clearly don't mean it, you get something special." She whipped around to face the angry face of Gobber. "Every morning before dawn, you are to get up and help in the Mead Hall making breakfast. After that, repair work. If nothing needs done with that, you get to head straight into the woods to help with gathering wood. You will stay there until dusk, before going to the docks to help store the fisherman catches. Is that clear?"

She looks livid at that. But since she knows to respect her superiors, she grumbles a quiet "Yes sir."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear you. What was that?"

She says much louder: "Yes sir."

He nods. "Good. I will be talking to your parents after class. They will be allowed to add extra work to what I already gave you, and if I find out any of you are skipping on your assignments, I will guarantee you won't like the results." He says that with a stern glare at the three of them. The Twins nod and Astrid looks away.

Fishlegs comes back in and walks to Gobber. "Gothi says Snotlout will be fine. He has a broken nose and dislocated jaw, and has a few loose teeth. He also has a broken rib and three cracked ribs. She also wants to see Hiccup after class." Gobber nods and walks over to the wall. He motions to some buckets.

"Grab one of these and leave your weapons here. You'll split up into groups for this exercise." All of us walk over. When Astrid puts her axe down, I see its a different one than the one I made her. Since I know how hard it is to break one of my weapons, she must have left it somewhere or tossed it into the ocean. We grab the buckets which are filled with water.

"Alright. The groups are: Astrid and Ruffnut, Fishlegs and Hiccup, and Zander and Tuffnut." We all walk to various areas in the arena with our partners while Gobber walks over to one of the cages. He pulls down the lever and a large cloud of gas pushes out the doors. "Today is about teamwork. Now, a wet dragon head cant light it's fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breaths gas, the other lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

While he was talking, the gas filled the entire arena and separated all the groups. Fishlegs was spewing facts about the Zippleback.

"Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing it's victims-" I cut him off. "Will you please stop that?!"

Suddenly I hear Tuffnut shout then water splashing from where two other surprised shouts come from.

"Hey!"

"Its us, idiot."

"Your butts are getting bigger. I thought you were a dragon."

Zander snickers at that. Then the sound of a punch to the gut and a bucket smashing into a helmet happen. Tuffnut falls to the floor before the sound of dragging and screaming fill the arena. "Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" Tuffnut runs past us and back into the gas. Then more screams sound out with the sound of bodies hitting the floor.

 **"Did you get the violent one?" "Yes, should we hurt her more?"** The two same sounding voices come out of the fog. **"No, we need to find the special hatchling." "Over here, I smell a...Dark-Wing?"**

One of the heads come out of the gas in front of Fishlegs, startling him into throwing his water. The head spews some gas on him. "Oh, wrong head." He runs off screaming. I hear Gobber calling for me, but keep my focus on the Zippleback as the other head comes into view.

 **"Are you the special hatchling?" "Yeah, are you?"** I'm confused at to why the call me the 'special hatchling'. Maybe it has to do with Toothless calling me a 'Savior'. **"I'm not sure why you're calling me that, but you need to get back in the cage before Gobber forces you in."**

Both heads rear back in shock, and I get an idea. **"Play along, I have a plan."** Before they can answer, I toss my water at the spark-head and miss. When both heads come back down to look at me, I drop the bucket and use my hands. "Back! Get back! That's right, back in your cage!"

As I advance, I'm relieved to find I'm speaking Norse again. Going with the flow, the Zippleback acts like I'm forcing him back into the cage with just my hands. When they're far enough into the cage, I start closing the gates. **"I'll come back some time. I get the feeling you guys need to talk to me about something."**

After I close the cage doors, I turn and find the other trainees. Most of them look stunned. Fishlegs drops his bucket.

"So, are we all done here? Yeah? I'll just be going..." As I slip out, I see Astrid's glare. That will be fun.

\- - - -

After going to Gothi's to let her do her own check up on my health, I made my way to the forge. Since Gobber said he would have work for me to do, I'll have to take care of that before I can start on the tail fin for Toothless.

Since it would take too long to make an automatic tail fin, I'll have to ride him to keep the fin open. For that, I'll need a saddle. When I walk in, no one is there. I look for the note Gobber may have left, but cant find one. I guess that makes sense. He wouldn't have had the time to before or during training, and he was likely taking care of business afterwards.

Choosing to get started, I go to my backroom and start designing. Since I know the general shape needed, I won't need to worry about measurements just yet. It will need more fine tuning though, but until then, this will work.  


I'm gathering the leather when Gobber shows up. "Ah, there you are lad. I was looking for you."

"Oh? What did you need Gobber?"

"Just wanted to let you know that I talked to the other teens parents. All of them agree that punishment is in order, and may be trying to find you later to apologize for their children's behavior."

"Uh, that's nice. Anything else?"

He gets a concerned look. "How long has this been going on, Hiccup? I know the others didn't like you, but to go that far?"

I sigh. I know I should tell him about this, but I really don't want to. "Since we could walk. At first it was just Snotlout, then the Twins joined in. On her bad days, Astrid would join in too. Fishlegs and Zander were the only ones to stay out of it, but Fishlegs didn't try to help me either. Whenever Zander is around, he stands up for me, but they still get to me."

He looks ashamed. "I should have known. You were always coming in here limping or banged up, but I never asked. I'm sorry, lad. I should have known. Should have done something before now."

Despite the fact it isn't very 'Viking-like', I walk over and hug him. "It's okay, Gobber. I should have said something before now. Besides, you always try to cheer me up afterwards. You always listen to me, even if I don't make sense."

He hugs me back, and we stay like that for a bit longer. He lets go first. "Well, what are we just standin' around for?! We have work to do!" There's the old Gobber. For the next few hours, we work and banter. Gobber makes sure not to make me do very hard stuff so my injuries don't bother me or get worse. The sun has almost set when he notices the leather I had been gathering.

"Hey lad, what's all this for? Another project of yours?"

"Yeah, I'm making something to help me while I'm out in the woods."

"Ah, excellent. Well, I'm off for the day. Make sure you lock up and get moving before it gets much darker." Not that I really need to worry about the dark with night vision.

"I will. Night, Gobber." He gives a wave and I get back to work making the saddle. After another hour, I have the finished product. I head to the fish storage and get another large bag of fish before going back to the house for my bags. When I get there, I realize I have a problem. I can't carry all of this at the same time. Deciding to leave the extra food, I grab the bag with my stuff and head for the cove.


	10. Dragon Naming and Weapon Training

(Hiccup POV)

After playing a game of 'catch the dragon' and a few test runs of the saddle and tail fin, as well as the discovery of something called 'Dragon Nip' (which smells amazing, by the way), I'm headed back to the forge to make some adjustments and additions to the saddle.

Since Toothless' tail fin has a large range of motions in order to fly properly, I need to make something more intricate than just 'open' and 'closed' for this to work. The only way I can figure out to do that is a type of pedal and gear system.

Since I'm not due back in town for another day and since Toothless refused to let me come during the day except for Dragon Training, I'm currently sneaking through the village at night avoiding the night guards. It wasn't that hard to do before, but now that I can see much better then them, this is almost child's play.

Making the last sprint into the forge, I figure I'll have about five hours to get my work done before Gobber shows up. Having done this several times before, I quickly and quietly get the forge up and running before gathering the metal needed for the gears.

While I work, I think back to the time I've been spending with Toothless. He's told me a lot about Dragon Culture and the different types of dragons native to the area. He even told me about Dragon Gods! While I knew the dragons were intelligent, I never would have guessed they could have such an intricate society!

He's also been there for me while I've recovered. We've had a few talks, like what his life was like before we met and how all the dragons seemed to know something was different about me. In a good way, I'm assured. He says it has something to do with me being a Savior, but since he wasn't taught or told much about the subject, he cant give me much information about it.

That led to me telling him about the arena dragons, how they all seem intent on talking to me about something. He agreed that I should talk to them like I said I would, but I would really rather Toothless be there with me for it. He was able to convince me to at least go see them tonight before I went back to tell them about our situation.

I also expressed my interest about rescuing the dragons. After telling Toothless about their horrible living conditions, he wholeheartedly agreed. The only problem is how. I cant just let them go, the blame could be tracked back to me. I also don't want them searching the forests for more dragons because they might find Toothless, which means I can only do something about it until after I get Toothless back in the air.

While he says not to rush, I know he's missing the feeling of being in the air. He's told me over a dozen times he doesn't blame me for what happened to his tail, and says the only compensation he needs is my company and the assurance that my Mangler was destroyed so no other dragons could get shot down with it.

I do still regret what happened to him though, and won't stop until I get him into the skies again. I also really enjoy his company, and would already be willing to call him my best friend. Sure I have Zander or Gobber, but neither of them really connect with me the way Toothless does. Zander is always there for me when I need it, but I cant just casually talk to him about anything. And Gobber is more like a surrogate father or uncle, being best friends with him would just be weird. There is also Gothi, but she's more of a grandmother to everyone on the island that talks to her, so again, weird.

I've gotten about half of the gear system made and put together by the time the sun starts to rise. Putting out the forge and hiding my project, I slip out of the forge and head for the arena. Since daytime would be too obvious to talk to dragons, I have to do it at night or early morning before people get up and about. It also helps the Kill Ring isn't guarded except for training purposes.

Reaching the spectator area, I listen for any of the dragons talking, but don't hear anything. They must be sleeping. I hate to have to wake them, but this is the only safe time to talk. Heading in, I decide to let the Gronkle out first since they seem to be the oldest - or at least the most mature - of the group. I pull down the lever and watch as she seems to frantically jump up and slam the doors open.

She does the same charge as last time and hits the far wall, eating some of the rocks that hit the ground. She whirls back around, only to find the ring empty of anyone but me. When she does see me, she quickly flies over, her pupils dilating.

 **"Special hatchling! You came back like you promised!"** She slows down just in time to keep from running me over, but late enough that she still runs into me. She takes a few sniffs. **"Oh! Your dragon scent is stronger now! Did you find your Bonded Dragon?"**

Seeing as all the dragons think I know everything about this Savior business, I feel the need to clarify. **"Uh, yes, but I really don't know much about why I'm so special."**

**She looks confused by that. "You don't? All dragons know about the legends of the Saviors."**

**"Yeah, I wasn't born a dragon and haven't properly met or talked to a dragon until about a week ago, so no, I don't know about any legends."**

Before she can answer, the Nadder interrupts. **"Hey, Stone-Skin! Is that the special hatchling? Tell him to let us out too! We all want to meet him!"**

The Gronkle looks back at me. **"Would you mind letting the others out? That way we can all talk to you without needed to repeat information."**

 **"Sure. I'd really rather not repeat anything either."** I walk over to the master switch and pull it down. The other dragons come out in varying degrees of speed. The Terror doesn't even wait for the gate, he just flies out the feeding hatch. The Nadder bursts out of her cage like she did last training session. The Zippleback doesn't do anything fancy, just pushes open the doors and walks out. The Nightmare is more showy, slamming the doors open and lighting on fire.

 **"Hey, not so loud! If anyone from the villages sees or hears you, we're all in big trouble!"** The Nightmare looks at me for a moment before putting themselves out. **"Sorry, hatchling. I wasn't sure if it was a trick or not."**

I smile. **"It's fine. Just trying not to get caught."** The Nadder and Terror both rush over to me. The Nadder seems to be checking me over while the Terror starts crawling all over me before settling on my right shoulder with his body draped across my back and his tail wrapped lightly around my neck.

The Nadder steps back with a satisfied squawk. **"Good. I don't smell any blood on you."** I realize she must have been making sure Gothi treated the wound she smelled last time she was let out. The Gronkle gets my attention again. **"So how much do you know about Saviors?"**

**"Uh, only a few things that Toothless told me. Speaking of which, do any of you have names? I don't want to keep referring to you based on species."**

**"Oh, a name? I want a name!"** The Terror replies. **"Wait, whats a name?"** The Gronkle answers for me. **"A name is what Vikings and some dragons give things to better refer to them. Like your a Tiny-Wing. That is the name of your species."**

**"Oh, cool! You wanna give us all names? We don't have any."**

I look at him then the others. **"You all are fine with that? Me giving you names?"** They all give nods. I smile. **"Okay, lets see..."** I want to give them nice names, but nice names aren't really a Viking specialty. **"You can be Sharpshot."** The Terror, now named Sharpshot, gives a happy trill and starts flying around. **"You can be...Stormfly."** She chirps and starts preening herself. **"Let's see...two heads, two names...Barf and Belch?"** Both heads look at each other and nod. **"Hmm...big, jagged teeth...how about Hookfang?"** He seems to consider it for a moment, before giving a nod. **"Cool, and lastly...Meatlug?"** She shows her approval with a lick.

Sharpshot lands on my shoulder as Meatlug starts talking again. **"So, what do you know about Saviors?"**

**"Just that they're a Viking born with a dragons soul, and have a Bonded Dragon and Guardian Hybrid."**

**"Did your people not teach you about Saviors?"** Stormfly asks.

**"Vikings aren't very big readers. I asked about them, but we don't know anything about them or what they are."**

**"Then how did you learn about Saviors?" "Was it your Bonded Dragon?"**

**"Yeah, Toothless told me that's what he thinks I am. He doesn't know much about Saviors either, though."**

**"Hey, who's 'Toothless'? Is he your Bonded?"** Sharpshot piped in.

 **"Yeah. I met him after the last raid. He's a Night Fury. Or...I think you guys call him a Dark-Wing?"** They all looked surprised by that. Hookfang steps up. **"He is fine, then? Where is he?"**

 **"Yeah, he's fine. But he was injured when he went down. He lost half his tail fin and cant fly. He's stuck in a cove in the woods."** They all look horrified by the 'cant fly' part, which makes sense. After all, _'a downed dragon is a dead dragon'_ , like Gobber said.

 **"He...he cant fly?"** Hookfang clarifies.

 **"No, he cant. But don't worry! I'm making something to help him."** They all seem surprised and confused by that. **"How? What are you making?"** Meatlug asks.

I grin. **"You'll see next time I come to talk to you. I'm going to bring him with me. For now though, you need to get back in the cages. People will be here soon and you cant be seen outside."**

They all look up and see the sun is just about to come over the horizon. Then they look back at me. **"You will come back, right? We have more to tell you."** Meatlug asks.

 **"Yeah, I'll likely see one of you for the next class, but I will come back another night to talk to you."** With that, they all walk back to their pens and watch me close the doors. I mentally apologize to them as I do and lock the doors. I sneak back out of the arena and through the village. I make it back to the woods and head for the cove.

\- - - -

The rest of the day was spent playing more 'catch the dragon' and play fighting with Toothless. I think I might be getting faster, because I can almost keep up with him when he goes full speed. That's saying something because I was already the fastest person on Berk, not that anyone would know that.

Toothless makes sure to regularly remind me of how much he cares from his several tongue baths and random licks he gives me. He told me it's how dragons show affection for each other, and if I was fully human, I would likely find it gross. Instead, it's really comforting. It makes me feel nice. Wanted. I'm not sure he knows just how much that means to me.

I told him about my meeting with the other dragons and how I gave them all names. He remembers Hookfang. I think they might have an older/younger sibling type relationship. He doesn't know if he has any blood related family. All he remembers is growing up in the nest with no one else like him. The other dragons there said they just found his egg in one of the side caves and took it in to hatch.

That's one thing we both have in common. Neither of us really have parents. Sure, Stoick is still alive and here, but how can he be my father if he never gives me the time of day? And I never knew my mother, so not much can be said about that.

After a very restful sleep, I head back into town for the next class of training. I meet up with Zander at the edge of the forest - as was agreed for my protection - and head to the arena. To my mild surprise, Snotlout is there, though he does still have bandages on his head and chest. He likely used the excuse of 'Vikings are tough', or he just doesn't want to get shown up by me after I survived much worse and came back just as fast. He does make sure to keep a wide berth from Zander, though.

Gobber leads us into the arena which has been left empty like the first class, and my guess is confirmed when he releases Meatlug. Similar to the last two times she was let out, she goes straight for the far wall and grabs some rocks. As the others charge her, she head-butts them away. I cringe when she does that to Snotlout. While I do think he deserves the broken bones, that was rather painful to watch.

She sees me and makes a beeline in my direction. Seeing Astrid charge her from the side, I rush to her and grab the Dragon Nip I brought with me. **"Hey Meatlug. Sorry, but I don't want you getting hurt."** I take out the Nip, making sure to hold my breath and rub it on her nose. Her pupils go wide and I get her to flip over. I quickly put the grass back in my pocket and take a much needed breath.

I look over and see Astrid looking at me with shock, confusion and anger. Gobber comes over to roll Meatlug back into her cage and Zander escorts me out of the arena. On the way to the forge, we start talking.

"So, how are you feeling? You've seemed to heal completely already."

I have a suspicion that I'm getting better healing from this dragon part I have on top of Toothless' saliva. "I'm feeling pretty good. Staying in the woods is really refreshing."

He nods. "That's good. Say, you up for that training session I told you about? If you're feeling up to it, you can add a custom weapon to your list of projects."

I think about it. While I still don't really want to need a weapon, I know I will need one if only to defend myself and others like Toothless. While I don't doubt his ability and willingness to fight, he won't be able to take on everything. "Sure. When do you want me to come over?"

"Now." I stop and look at him. "Now? I need to go to the forge to help Gobber."

"I know. I talked to Gobber about it and he said you can take today off to train. Granted he probably doesn't know you already train and this is just to decide a weapon." He grins and I give a small chuckle.

"Alright, then. Lets go." We change direction and head for the woods in the direction of his house. On the way, he explains what his plan is.

"So, you have three weapons you like to use, the dagger, short-swords, and a staff. Your dagger wont stand up well in a close quarters fight against a battle axe or sword, so we wont focus much on that, but I will have you practice your dagger throwing. Since the swords and staff are both meant for fast and agile attacks, well have a few rounds of close quarter fights with them. Which ever one you do better with should be the one you base a weapon off of." When we arrive at his house, he goes to the storage shed. "Now, since you don't have any of the weapons besides a dagger, I'll let you borrow some of mine." He pulls out two swords and a metal staff. He sets them aside and pulls out a few daggers and some targets.

He hand me the weapons. "Here, get use to the feel of these. I'll set up the targets while your doing that." I pick up the staff and do a few test swings. It has good balance but is a bit big for me to use efficiently. I grab both swords and find they aren't really short-swords. Well, for me anyways. They're a bit to heavy. I look through the daggers he got out and find several different sizes and shapes. I grab a few and see how they feel. When I run my hand over the inscriptions on the blade, I stop to wonder where Zander even got these weapons from. I get having several, every Viking does that, but these blades are far to fancy and intricate to have been made on Berk, or even the archipelago. I'll have to ask him about that later.

Zander comes back over and grabs the daggers and one of the swords. "Over here, we'll do the dagger throwing first." I pick up the staff and other sword and follow him.

He set up the targets at various heights and distances. He even set one up surrounded in sticks and leaves so only the inside ring and center dot are visible. "Alright. There should be enough targets for two daggers each. There are twenty daggers for twenty throws, ten with each arm. That one target in the far back that's mostly hidden? After you use up all of these ones, take your personal dagger and try to hit that one." I give a nod and grab the closest dagger. It has a slightly curved blade. I took it in my right hand and threw. It hit two rings from the center.

"Not bad for your non-dominate hand. Keep going." I alternated between both hands until all of them were used up. I was somewhat rusty, most of my first throws were off. But by the last ones, they were all dead center. "Very good. Haven't lost it yet. Now for the hard one." I pull out the dagger that I had thrown in the lake that first day with Toothless. He didn't complain when I took it out, so he must have trusted me not to turn on him.

The last target is easily about 70 meters out. If it wasn't for my enhanced eyesight, I probably wouldn't be able to see it. After checking the wind, I reared back and threw. I held my breath as it flew, and let it out when I heard the thunk into the target.

"Wow. Bullseye. Got the aim of a Night Fury, huh? Cant miss." I tensed at that. I'm sure he's just complementing me, but it was still too close of a comparison for my liking. "Come on, swords first." I grab both swords and follow him to the clearing. I see he has a sword, spear, axe, mace and hammer already there. "These are the main weapons Vikings use. I'll be using each one time for the swords and staff for about ten minutes each. The first five will be you holding out against my attacks. The last five will you be disarming me. Which do you want to go against first?"

This will be hard. I know Zander could easily overpower me if he went full out, and for this he will be making sure to test my limits. I notice each weapon matches one that the teens use. Since Astrid is the biggest threat and most likely to want to chop my head off, I feel I should start with that. "The axe. Use the axe first."

He nods and grabs it. He takes a few swings with it and walks to stand across from me. "For this, I will come at you. When five minutes are up, we'll take a short break then you will come at me for the last five minutes. Okay?" I nod. He charges.

As I figured, he isn't going easy. I block the first few attacks fine, but then he changes up his fighting style. I recognize it instantly as Astrid's attack style from when I saw her practicing in the woods. Once I knew what he was doing, blocking the attacks was much easier. Five minutes later and he stopped. "Good job. You handled the style change well. Two minute break and we'll continue."

Two minutes later, and we were back in the clearing. "Remember, you're aiming to disarm me. You can do that by either taking the weapon out of my hands, or hitting the pressure points in the hands and arms to make me drop it. If you cant do it before the five minutes are up, we'll try again. Go."

I start to circle him, looking for where I can get in. He again changes his stance to match Astrid, and since I know her style, I can use it to my advantage. I charge and feint to the left, then use my right sword to swing at his hand. He catches on and blocks. Deciding to use my speed to my advantage, I circle and strike repeatedly to keep him moving. He seems surprised at my sudden speed, but takes it in stride. When the five minutes are almost up, I manage to hook my swords on his axe and pull. Instead of him losing the axe, the axe head comes off the handle and I get thrown backwards from overcompensating. The axe head embeds itself into a tree.

We both look at the axe head then each other. "Whoops. Guess this axe is older than I thought. But good job. If it was Astrid, she wouldn't have had the strength to hold on to the axe at all." He helps me up. "Alright. Ten minute break then on to the next weapon." We head back to his house to drink some water and have a small snack. After we head back, he grabs the sword. "Alright, same as last time. Ready?" I nod and we start again.

With each of the weapons, he uses the fighting style of the teen that uses said weapon. I assume he did this since the teens are the most likely to attack me. I was able to stand my ground well enough, but had some trouble taking all the weapons from him. Particularly the sword and hammer. I had to try those a few times before I got it. It was mid-afternoon by the time we were done with it.

"Alright, you did really well with all that. We'll take a half hour break before going again with the staff. You up for it?" I sigh but nod. As tiring as this is, I know why it's necessary. "Good. I'm going to see if I can't find another axe since that other one was the last in the shed." He walks off in the direction of town and I decide to head inside to wait for him.

I've only been in his house a few times when I was younger, and every now and then when he started training me. The inside hasn't changed much from the other times I've been here. The most prominent thing is the axe, shield and helmet on the hearth above the fire place. They belonged to his parents before they were killed. The wooden practice sword below them was the one his brother used before he was killed too.

Everything else in the room was very basic. Not much decorates the walls and there was just a simple table and chair in the corner. The corner on the other side from them has a pile of furs which I assume is his bed. The only thing that seems off is all the small claw marks on everything. They look too big for a Terror, but too small for anything else. Is there a dragon living in here? I don't recognize the claw pattern of these, so it isn't a dragon that's native to the area.

My musing is interrupted by the door opening. "Found one!" I turn to see Zander standing in the doorway with a very familiar axe. It's the one I made for a certain Shield Maiden-to-be. "Where did you find that?"

"When I was walking to the village, I saw this glinting on one of the cliffs. I think Astrid was frustrated she couldn't smash this thing and decided to toss it into the ocean. I think it's rather ironic she missed, huh?" I see the mischievous glint in his eye. He's planning something. "Well, it's been about a half hour. Lets get back to practicing."

Deciding to question him later about the claw marks, I follow him. I grab the staff and he keeps the axe, and we repeat the earlier tests.


	11. Flying Instincts

(Hiccup POV)

By the time I got back to the cove, I was exhausted. When Zander was done testing me, he said a staff would be the best choice for a weapon. He suggested I make something unique with strong defencive capabilities that can still disarm opponents.

When he let me go, I went straight to the forge where Gobber put me straight to work, saying if I was able to train with Zander, I could go back to doing the hard stuff like forging weapons and tools. By the time night rolled around, I barely had the energy to finish the pedal and gear system.

So when I finally trudged my way into the cove, I all but collapsed on Toothless who was waiting for me. **"What took so long? Why are you so tired?"**

 **"Just...get me to the...cave and...let me catch my...breath. I'll explain...later."** He didn't seem too satisfied with that answer, but he obliged and carried me to the cave and laid me against him. A few minutes later, I started talking.

**"After Dragon Training, Zander - the nice teen I told you about - took me to his house for training."**

**"Training? For what?"**

**"Remember how I said he wanted to help me pick a weapon to use?"** He nodded. **"It was for that. I was already good with a few weapons, but he wanted to help me narrow it down so I could make my own weapon for if I get attacked again."**

**"Oh, what are gonna use?"**

**"Well, it was between swords and a staff, and he thinks I'm better suited to the staff."**

**"Whats a staff? And why that one?"**

**"A staff is a long pole that can have attachments on one or both ends. He says that one since I fought better with it and it's more suited to my fighting style."**

**"Cool. What's it gonna look like?"**

**"That I don't know. Zander said I should go for something made for defense, but still be able to disarm opponents."** He perks up. **"Oh! Make it like dragon claws!"** I look at him. **"Dragon claws?"**

**"Yeah! I can tell you're build for speed and agility like me, so put claws on the end of the weapon that curve. It will look deadly, be able to hook onto things, and can stop attacks! Just like real dragon claws!"**

I think it over. That actually wouldn't be too bad. I reach over and grab my sketchbook and start designing, getting input from Toothless about what claws are meant to do and looking at his claws for reference.

The main design that I'm going to try is a long wooden pole with metal reinforcement. On each end, facing opposite directions will be three metal blades, getting smaller the farther down they go. Each blade will be curved inwards to grab onto things and sharp enough to cut through solid wood.

When I'm finished, I remember the finished saddle I made. **"Hey Toothless. I finished the new saddle rig before I came back, so do you want to test it now or in the morning?"**

 **"Oh! Now!"** He jumps up and runs to where I left it outside. I laugh at his eagerness and follow him. **"Alright, but just so you know, we won't be going all the way. I need to mark what each pedal position does first."**

He loses some of his enthusiasm with that, but still looks eager to go. I strap the new saddle on him while he eats the fish I brought. We both finish at about the same time, and I hop on and attach the safety lines. I open the fin and he flies up to the edge of the cliffs lining the cove. He walks us to the cliff I like to come to and I attach a length of rope from the stump to the front of his saddle.

I hop back on and open the tail fin. Toothless opens his wings and we start gliding in place. I go through each pedal position one at a time and mark what each ones does. After I do the last one, I open the fin again so we can glide, but a strong gust of wind come up and snaps the rope holding us in place. We both give shouts of shock as we barrel backwards and hit a few trees.

**"That hurt."**

**"Yeah, are you okay?"**

**"I'll be fine."** Toothless nods and stands up, and I get pulled with him. I look at the safety likes and see one of them got stuck from the metal getting bent. **"Oh great."**

**"What?"**

**"The safety like got stuck. I cant get it off without something to cut the line or something to bend the metal back in place."**

**"Oh, here. I can get it."** The next few minutes consist of Toothless trying to bend one of his legs around to cut the line with his claws, and failing miserably. By the time I get pulled into a bush for the twelfth time, I stop him.

 **"Okay, that's enough. Since I don't have the tools to do it on me or at the cove, we'll have to sneak into the forge to get them."** He looks nervous about that.

**"Wait, you mean we have to go into the nest that hates you and wants to kill me so we can get unstuck?"**

**"Yeah, pretty much."**

He adopts a considering look. **"Would being stuck together really be that bad, though?"**

**"Toothless. We are going to sneak into the village to get this taken care of."**

**"Fine. Lets go then."** He starts walking off and I stumble after him. I jump into the saddle and he starts running, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.

\- - - -

We both press against a building as a guard walks past, doing a very bad job of keeping an eye out for dragons. When he's out of sight, I pull Toothless in the direction of the forge. He's been very interested in seeing everything, always looking around and sniffing everything he can.

We make it to the forge and squeeze in. I grab the tools needed and Toothless sticks his head in a bucket. He tosses it aside and looks around.

 **"This is where you come every raid?"** He has a careful eye on the weapon displays. **"I don't like it. Too many weapons."**

**"You don't have to like it, we just need to get this undone and we can leave."**

"Hiccup? You in there?" We both freeze at the new voice. Looking outside, I see Astrid walking over.

**"Oh, this is bad. Astrid is here!"**

**"Astrid? The one who beat you?"** I don't answer, too focused on getting the metal unbent. I hear her footsteps just outside.

 **"Stay here."** I throw on my apron and jump out the window, quickly shutting it behind me to keep Toothless hidden.

"Astrid! Hi Astrid. Hi. Astrid." I can feel Toothless roll his eyes.

"Hiccup. What are you doing here? You're suppose to be hiding in the woods." She says that with a glare.

"I'm here because I work here, and it isn't hiding. After what you all did I'm not safe in the village."

She sneers. "It's the middle of the night. Why are you here?"

"I could ask the same thing." She growls. Literally growls. She reaches for her axe, but before either of us can do anything, Toothless pull on the line hard and I get sent back through the window.

 **"Grab what you need and lets go!"** Quickly, I ditch the apron and grab a few tools. I hop on Toothless and we run for the forest. I look back just in time to see Astrid send her axe through the window. That girl has some serious anger issues.

\- - - -

The next morning has Toothless and I several hundred feet in the air.

**"Alright bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow."**

**"Aw, slow? Why cant we go fast?"**

**"In case you forgot, I wasn't born a dragon and have never flown before now."**

**"But you're part dragon! You should have the instincts to fly."**

**"I'm not taking chances. Now, position three...no, four."** I change the fin position and Toothless copies it, sending us into a large arc.

 **"Alright, it's go time. It's go time."** I change the tail position again and we go into a dive, pulling up just before hitting the water. We sail straight through an arch. **"Yeah! Yes, it works!"** I look back at the tail fin.

 **"Hiccup!"** I turn back around in time for us to hit a sea stack. **"Sorry!"** We fly into another one. **"My fault."** He slaps me with his ear. **"Pay attention!"**

 **"Yeah, yeah I'm on it. Position four, no three."** Toothless pumps his wings and we start rapidly climbing. **"Yeah! Go, baby! Oh this is amazing, the wind in my CHEAT SHEET! STOP!"**

Toothless slides to a stop while I'm reaching for the run away cheat sheet. Since I don't lose my momentum, I fly up farther than Toothless and get detached. I look down and am pretty sure we both have looks of horror on our faces when we start falling.  


I right myself and look over to Toothless, who is in a panic. **"Alright, Toothless! Come on, you gotta kinda angle yourself- Ow!"** His tail swings around and smacks me a bit farther away. The sound snaps Toothless out of it.

As we're about to hit the trees, I get back in the saddle and hook the lines back in and slam on the pedals. Toothless throws open his wings and we stop just in time. But now instead of hitting the trees, we're headed at high speeds into a maze of sea stacks.

Toothless lets out a screech of terror and I attempt to read the cheat sheet, but the wind is keeping me from being able to read it. Deciding to see if Toothless was right about me having dragon instincts, I lean forwards and push Toothless into a dive.

The next minute consists of both of us working in perfect harmony, making extremely advanced maneuvers I'm not sure Toothless has even attempted before. We shoot out of the other side above open ocean.

 **"YEAH!"** Both of us shout in joy and Toothless adds to it with a fireball, which he then flies us though. **"Oh, come on..."**

\- - - -

After catching us both some much deserved lunch, we set down on a sea stack and start eating. I would have made a fire, but raw fish just tastes so much better now. I think it's the dragon part of me talking. Toothless offers me half an already eaten fish, and I decide to oblige him. He told me sharing fish like that is a sign of good will. It also has this strange taste that I cant quite place, but like none the less.

As we eat, a few Terrors show up, looking for food. **"Hey! Hey! Food! Give us some!"** Toothless starts growling lightly and pulls his food closer. One of the Terrors manage to snag a fish and take a bite, before another one tries to take it. The first flames the second while a third join in.

Toothless sees one of his fish walking off, and grabs it to show the last Terror was trying to sneak off with it. They have a short bout of tug-of-war before Toothless rips it away and eats it, laughing at the other dragon.

 **"Hey! That was mine!"** The Terror goes to shoot a fire ball, but just before they ignite the gas, Toothless shoots a small plasma blast into their mouth and the Terror briefly turns into a balloon before dizzily staggering away.

 **"Huh, not so fireproof on the inside. Good to know. Here."** I toss them one of my fish which they perk up at and eat instantly. They look over to me and walk over, curling up at my side. That gets me thinking.

 **"Toothless, we have to show the Vikings that everything they know about dragons is wrong."** He looks over to me. **"I agree with that, but we wont be able to do much until after the Queen is gone."**

 **"But we can. The arena dragons know about Saviors, and I said we would both go and talk to them. I assume all of them were once slaves of the Queen, so they can help us plan. I think if we can get Berk to help us, we might have a chance to take her down."**  


He looks away, considering. **"Alright, but how can we do that? From what you've told me, Vikings are very stubborn and don't like change."**

**"I'm not sure yet, but we have a while to figure it out. We wont do anything until after Stoick gets back, since he will be the one we have to convince. Until then, we plan."**


	12. Man with a Plan

(Hiccup POV)

After finishing lunch and bidding farewell to the Terrors, Toothless and I went back to the cove to discuss plans for freeing the dragons from both the arena and the Queen as well as getting Berk's support.

**"I still think we should just free the captured dragons then gather more dragons to help fight the Queen."**

**"While that is a good plan, we also need human support. Yes, ending the dragon raids will help, but if they aren't there to see it for themselves, they won't believe it."**

**"But will the Vikings really listen? You said it yourself, 'Vikings have stubbornness issues'."**

**"We wont know unless we try. And I wont leave unless we try."**

As much as leaving Berk and all it's horrible people behind sounded wonderful, I know there's a chance of convincing enough people to get the needed support.

**"If we cant do it, we'll go with your plan of gathering dragons. So until then, we go with my plan."**

**"Fine. Your way first. We should talk to the other dragons though, keep them in the loop."**

**"Right. I was planning on doing that once I got you back in the air, and since we did that, we can go tonight."**

He perks up. **"Really? We can do that tonight?"**

 **"Sure."** He starts jumping around happily. I think it might be because he gets to see Hookfang again. Or just other dragons in general. After he settles down, we relax in the fading light and stick around until about an hour after sunset.

Keeping a good distance from the village, we loop around to the cliff with the Kill Ring on it. Toothless sets down just outside of it, and after jumping off him, we make our way inside.

I can sense Toothless' nervousness, and I cant really blame him. This is a place made specifically made for caging and killing dragons. Not the most pleasant place to be. Wanting to ease the feeling of desperation this place gives off, I walk straight over to the master switch and pull.

The dragons cautiously exit the cages, looking around for anyone that might hurt them. Seeing only me and Toothless, they throw caution to the wind and walk over to us.

When Hookfang comes out, he and Toothless instantly lock eyes. They both just stand there for a moment before Toothless bounds over to him. They both start nuzzling and sniffing each other.

**"Dark-Wing! I'm so glad to see you."**

**"I'm happy to see you too. And it's Toothless, now."**

**"Ah, right. The hatchling told us that. He named me Hookfang."**

**"He told me that too."**

As they keep chatting, Meatlug comes over to me. **"I am happy to see you again, hatchling."** I smile back. **"I promised to come back, right?"** She nods. Sharpshot lands on my shoulder again and starts nuzzling me. I return the gesture and greet Stormfly and Barf and Belch. Hookfang and Toothless walk over.

**"I must say I'm impressed, hatchling. Making a fake tail fin and helping him fly again."**

I blush slightly and scratch my neck. **"Nah, it's nothing. Just helping out a friend."**

Toothless interrupts. **"Yes it is something! I could barely keep up with your explanation of how it works because it was so complicated! You need to stop selling yourself short."** I just blush again and duck my head. Meatlug growls lightly to get our attention.

**"Now that introductions are finished, shall we start?"**

**"Right. Uh, what did you want to talk about?"**

**"Since you don't seem to know much about Saviors, lets start with how they became a legend."** We all settle into a circle so we can face each other easily. Toothless lays down and I lean against him. Sharpshot jumps down into my lap. Hookfang settles down just to our right and Stormfly sets down to our left. Meatlug and Barf and Belch sit across from us.

**"Now, a long time ago, Humans and Dragons lived in peace. They had a mutual relationship, keeping to themselves but helping the other when needed. Over time, greedy humans and dragons wanted to take what the other had, and so fighting broke out. As time went on, the conflict only got worse until no one could remember the peace that was had before.**

**The Dragon of the Sun and Dragoness of the Moon, angry at the greedy ones actions, gifted three beings with the power to end the war and bring peace. The first of these was the Savior. A human with the soul of a dragon that was able to go between both human and dragon society in both mind and body who would weave the peace between both.**

**The second was the Bonded. A dragon that would be the soul-mate of the Savior and would unlock the draconic nature of their soul. The third was the Guardian. A human made to be both human and dragon, a Hybrid. They were the one to teach, guide and protect the Savior through their journey.**

**Together, these three went throughout the land and sea, ending the conflict and bringing a new era of peace for all. Every time a horrible conflict occurred with no end in sight, the gods would gift a new three to bring the peace, and thus the legend of the Saviors started."**

To say Hiccup was overwhelmed was an understatement. _Him_ , the _scrawny fishbone_ of a Viking, was meant to bring peace to humans and dragons by ending the war. It seemed so very impossible. How was he suppose to do it? Yes, he and Toothless had been making plans to try, but to know he was _destined_ to? His backrest pulled him from his thoughts.

 **"Hiccup. I know this seems overwhelming, but you are capable of this. Destiny or not, you were born to be a leader."** I smile at his reassurance, but cant help but still have doubts.

 **"He is right, hatchling."** Meatlug speaks up. **"We all know you can do this."** The other dragons all give various reassurances. It makes me feel like crying. Having complete confidence in me is not something that happens often, much less from people I barely know. **"T-thank you."**

**"So we know who your Bonded is-" "-but who is your Guardian?"**

**"Uh, I don't know. If the others found out there was a human/dragon hybrid living with them, they would go on a rampage to kill the person for being a monstrosity."** They look shocked at that. **"But why would they do that?"** Hookfang asks.

**"Because Vikings hate dragons. This village more so from getting raided so much. And to find one that's a mix of both? Yeah, they would die if they didn't flee."**

**"That's not good. You need your Guardian if you are to learn. You must try to find them as soon as you can."** Meatlug says.

**"Okay, but where do I even start? I could try asking about people knowing any Hybrids, but that would be way too suspicious, even for me."**

Stormfly pipes in. **"Maybe they are still here, but in hiding. Is there anyone you know that might be them?"** I think over who I know that would have a possibility of being the Guardian. I've explored the entire island several times, so I know there isn't anyone hiding out in the forests. So if they are here, they must be hiding in plain sight.

**"I don't know of anyone hiding in the woods, but I don't know anyone in the village that could be them if they didn't leave. What should I look for, exactly? Do they have any distinct traits I could find?"**

Meatlug answers. **"Yes, all Guardians can hide their dragon halves, but not completely. They will always have scales somewhere on their body, and can not get rid of their claws. They would likely hide as much of their body as possible to avoid discovery."**

I think over anyone that does that, and only one person comes to mind. **"Zander. The only one who matches that description is Zander."**

 **"Who is he?"** Stormfly asks.

**"He's one of the other teens that are in training with me. You've likely seen him. Tall, medium build, always wears clawed gauntlets and a black cloak."**

Meatlug perks up. **"Oh, yes! I've seen him. He was the one who told me you were the special hatchling!"**

I'm confused by that. **"He did? When?"**

**"The first day we met. I asked you and him which one of you was the special hatchling and he nodded to you."**

Hookfang interrupts. **"Wait, then how did you not realize that he was the Guardian? If he nodded to the hatchling, then he would have understood what you asked."**

Meatlug seems to realize this too and looks sheepish. **"Oh, yes. I must have missed that."** We all chuckle lightly at that. **"So how do I find out for certain, then? Zander's smart. He'll know instantly if something is up and if he isn't the Guardian then I can't just walk up and ask _'Hey, I know this sounds crazy but are you secretly a dragon hybrid meant to protect me?'"_**

 **"Let us handle that then, hatchling. We can try to catch his scent to see if he smells like a dragon. If he does, then we can tell you and you can ask him."** Stormfly offers. That would probably be the best way to do it. If I can avoid asking any awkward questions, I'll take it.

**"Alright. Was there anything else you needed to talk to me about?"**

**"Yes, but they would be best had with your Guardian present since they involve him."** Meatlug replies.

 **"Okay, then Toothless and I need to talk to you. He told me about the Queen, and by the sound of it, she is the reason this war is happening in the first place."** All the dragons start shifting uncomfortably at the mention of her.

 **"Yeah! She's mean. She never let us get enough food, always taking it for herself!"** Sharpshot gives his opinion.

Meatlug continues. **"Yes. She has a level of control over all the dragons that are in her range. The only reason she has no hold on us is because she either let us go, or because our heads were hit hard enough to knock her out."**

Toothless interjects. **"So that's what happened! After I crashed, I noticed she was gone but didn't know how."**

 **"Yes, falling from several hundred feet into several trees and rocks would do that."** Hookfang remarks slyly. Toothless just rolls his eyes.

**"Then to end the war, we have to do something about her. She's caused to much death and destruction already."**

**"Slow down, hatchling. The Queen is very formidable. The only way to have a chance at taking her down is by getting her out of the nest, and that would only happen if she was threatened directly."** Meatlug says.

**"I know, Toothless described her. But we still need a plan to take her down, and I might have one."**

**"Oh? What is this plan, then?" "Yes, what do you have in mind?"**

**"Well, since she's really tough, I think we'll need all the help we can get, both from other dragons not under her control and the Vikings."**

**"I tried telling him just to go with the dragons, but he insists on getting the Vikings to help."** I shoot Toothless a look.

 **"While I agree we need all the help we can get, how do you plan on getting the Vikings to help? You said yourself that they hate dragons."** Hookfang says.

**"That is where you guys come in. Aside from raids, the only dragons that are here are you guys and Toothless. My idea is that during classes, we make it so I win each one. That will keep you guys from getting hurt and put me at the top of the class. Then after the nest hunt comes back, I win the 'honor' of killing a dragon. During the final, Hookfang and I will show the entire village dragons aren't the beasts they thought they were."**

They seem to think over that plan. **"What will happen if they don't listen?"** Stormfly asks.

**"That is another part of the plan. Toothless will be hiding out nearby during the final. If things go wrong, he'll blast into the arena and smash the system keeping the locks in place. That should cause enough chaos and confusion to get you all out of here and go with Toothless' plan of just finding other dragons to help."**

**"Is there anyone specific we must convince?"** Meatlug questions.

 **"Yes. The main person we need to convince is Stoick. He's the chief of the tribe and the most influential person on the island. He, uh, also happens to be my dad."** They all just stare in disbelief at that last statement. Hookfang gets his voice back first.

 **"Your sire is the Alpha of this nest?!"** Disbelief turns to shock. **"I had the same reaction when he told me that."** Toothless supplies.

**"Yeah, I know. Hard to believe. But he is the main person we need to convince if we want to get anywhere with the Vikings helping us."**

**"What about now? Is there anyone on the island now that you could get to help us?"** Meatlug asks. I think it over. The only people who Stoick really listens to are on his council, and most of them left with the nest hunt. The only people still here are Gobber, Gothi, Mulch and Bucket, and Mildrew. Mildrew is defiantly a no. Gobber, Mulch and Bucket are a maybe. Gothi is the only one who would likely accept it without much convincing and is the one Stoick is the most likely to listen to.

**"There are a few people that could help, but I might have trouble convincing them."**

**"Have you told me about any of them, by chance?"** Toothless asks.

**"Yeah, I've told you about Gobber. You guys would know him as the one who teaches the class. He lost his arm and leg."**

**"The Two-Limb one?"** Stormfly clarifies.

**"Yeah, him. Another one is Gothi. You may have seen her before, she usually shows up in the stands. She's short, hunched, has a staff with her all the time."**

**"Oh, yes. I've seen her before. She always comes to watch."** Meatlug answers.

**"Right. The last two I doubt you guys have seen. They're Mulch and Bucket. They both work as fisherman. Bucket was injured a while ago, and has to wear a bucket on his head all the time. Mulch is his caretaker."**

**"They are the ones you must convince to help us?" "Will you be able to do it?"**

**"They are, and maybe. Gothi will be easy. She's old but wise. Stoick will most likely listen to her. Gobber won't be too easy, but I can get him to listen to me. He can help since Stoick trusts him, but his advice isn't always listened to. I don't really know how to get the other two on our side, but they are some of the few nice people on the island, so I could get them."**

**"Then you should get started on that as soon as you can. The more help we have, the better."** Meatlug advises.

The rest of the night is spent planing and revising, as well as just talking. By the time the sun rises, all of us are rather tired from the lack of sleep. After putting the dragons back in the pens, Toothless and I head straight back to the cove for some much needed rest. It's easier to fall asleep knowing we have a plan.


	13. Guardians and Prototypes

(Hiccup POV)

At the next training session, the dragons and I put our plan into motion. During the class, whichever dragon was let out would try to get close enough to Zander to get his scent. Then they would come over to me and tell me what they found. I would 'defeat' them to win the class, then go confront Zander about being my Guardian.

I also have to try and convince people that dragons aren't the monsters they think they are. The more, the better, but people who can influence Stoick would be best. Which is why today before class, I'm headed to Gothi's to talk to her.

I walk up the hill to her house and knock. As soon as I finish, she opens the door. She invites me in and I sit at the table, grabbing a cup of tea she has set out. She sits across from me and takes her own cup. I swear she knows everything considering she has all this set up as the perfect way to talk. She might even know already what I want to say.

"Uh, Gothi, I was wondering something." She invites me to continue. "Have you ever wondered why we fight the dragons?"

She gets a considering look and grabs her staff. She walks over to a pile of sand on the floor and starts writing. _'Your mother asked the same thing, you know.'_

I stare at her. "She did?"

She nods. _'Yes. She thought much the same as you. She believed dragons weren't the mindless beasts everyone thought either. She tried to stop the fighting, but no one would listen.'_

"She tried to stop it too?"

_'She did. I believe I know why you came here.'_

I start fidgeting. "Uh, you do?"

She nods again. _'You have found your Bonded. You wish to gather help to end the war.'_

I stare at her in disbelief. "H-how did you know?"

She smiles. _'When you were born, I told your parents a bit of your destiny. I said_ "He will not be a Viking, but he will be a Savior." _They only listened to the first half.'_

"S-so you knew, all along that I would end the war?"

_'Destiny is a funny thing. You make your own choices, but you will always achieve the same thing. You will end the war, but how you do it is up too you.'_

"You mean I may not get the others help?"

_'It is up to you if you gain them as an ally, but know that I will help you how I can.'_

I smile and hug her. "Thank you, Gothi. For telling me that."

She hugs me back, then shoos me away. _'Training starts soon, correct?'_

"Oh, right!" I run for the door. "Thanks again, Gothi!" She chuckles as I run down the hill. That's one down, a bunch more to go.

\- - - -

I meet up with Zander and we both head to the arena. On the way there, I pay attention to what I see about him that could hint at him being the Guardian. He always wears a cloak, and if what Meatlug said about them not being able to hide all their scales was right, then that might be why he wears it.

She also said that no matter what, they couldn't hide their claws. Looking at his gauntlets, they have claws on them. That could either mean he made them hallow for his own claws, or he took inspiration from the dragons like I did for the weapon I'm going to make.

We reach the arena and find everyone there already. Even Gothi. How she can be so fast when so old, I have no idea. Gobber lets us into the arena which is bare of anything again. Gobber walks to the cages and open the one with Stormfly. That helps, since she said Nadders have an excellent sense of smell.

As usual, Snotlout - who has less bandages then last time - charges her first. She easily headbutts him away. She ignores the squabbling Twins and sends Fishlegs a glare. When she readies her tail spikes, he screams and runs. She turns to Astrid and Zander. She charges both of them and smacks Astrid out of the way when she charges right back.

Stormfly attempts to pin Zander, but he keeps rolling out of the way. **"Stop moving! I need your scent!"** I see Zander looks confused by that, which is understandable. A random dragon asking for your scent would seem weird. To my surprise, he answers. **"Why the heck do you need my scent?"**

 **"We found the Savior and he needs his Guardian!"** Zander slows at that, clearly in thought. He looks at me just as Stormfly pins him. The others slow down, clearly worried the wrong move would get him killed. Stormfly takes a few sniffs and squawks. She jumps off him and runs in my direction.

Astrid, now knowing no harm will come to Zander, throws her axe at the Nadder. Her throw is off, likely from not being the axe she's use to, and Stormfly deflects it easily. She blocks me from view from the others and makes herself look threatening.

 **"He smells like several dragons. The scents are too strong to just be in passing."** We both look up at Astrid's battle cry and see her charging again. I start scratching her chin to find the sweet spot there. **"Thanks, girl."** I hit the spot and she collapses in a heap. Over her head, I see Astrid come up short with a look of shock that quickly changes to anger. I can see her contemplating putting her axe in my skull.

Gobber comes over and dismisses us, and I leave at a speed just short of running. Zander quickly catches up after making sure Astrid doesn't try anything. "Good job on the Nadder."

"Thanks. Uh, can we talk? In private?" I glace around at the people walking about. I'd rather not confront him in the open. He looks at me and nods. We walk over to one of the food storage's and make sure no one is inside.

"This is about the Savior business, isn't it?"

"U-uh, yeah. How long have you known?"

"Since I was nine. I was found just before the first winter storms hit by some dragons and they told me I was to be the Guardian of this generations Savior. After they kidnapped me, of course."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Two reasons. One was I had been told to wait until you met your Bonded. If I had told you sooner, you may not have Bonded with the right dragon. The second was you were too young. When I was told about the whole Savior thing, you were only six. Far too young for the weight of the world."

"That makes sense. Wait, how do you know I Bonded?"

"Your scent. I'm guessing you know about me being a Hybrid? That means I have dragon senses, including smell. Every time we met up, I could smell the Night Fury on you. Hence my hints about knowing."

"If you knew, why didn't you say something?"

"Like I always say when you tell me something in private, _'it isn't my secret to tell.'_ I wanted to let you tell me when you were ready."

"Oh. Well, now you know. Uh, the arena dragons said after we figured out if you were the Guardian, they wanted to meet you to talk about stuff."

"Alright. Let me know when and I'll be there."

I nod and go to leave, before remembering something. "Hey, uh, could you help me with the weapon I want to make? I have a design in mind, but could use some dragon knowledge to make it."

He raises an eyebrow at that, but nods anyways. We both leave and head for the smithy, not noticing the extra pair of ears listening in.

\- - - -

Gobber didn't have much work for me to do today, and with Zander's help, we got it done in record time. While he might not be a blacksmith, he is very good at doing odd-jobs around the village.

We got straight to work on my new weapon. I showed Zander my design and what would be best to use for it. He said since I'm likely going to need to redesign it and change different things I should lay off the extra additions, starting with just two spikes and a simple wooden pole.

Since the forge didn't have anything long enough for the staff part, Zander left to find one long enough in the woods or storage shed. While he was gone, I decided to talk to Gobber.

"Hey, Gobber?"

He answers without looking at me. "Yeah, lad?"

"You ever wonder why the dragons raid us?"

He stops working and turns to me. "No, not really. I mean, they're just beasts who attack and steal, nothing more to it."

"But what if there was?"

"What are you getting at, lad?"

"I mean, think about it. For the amount of food they take each time they come here, doesn't it seem like a bit much for just the dragons that do attack?"

He rubs his chin while he thinks. "I...suppose so. But remember they aren't all the dragons in the area, other tribes get raided too."

"But that just means even more food that they don't need. I've been watching the dragons in the woods when they aren't raiding, and they can get enough fish to feed themselves easily."

He looks concerned at that. "Hiccup, you know dragons are dangerous. You shouldn't be studyin' them without supervision."

"Yeah, I know. But still, if the dragons can get enough food for themselves just by fishing, why do they raid us?"

He starts rubbing his chin again. "I don't know. They're just mindless beasts, they attack without thought."

"But why? Even mindless beasts would recognize the sense of not constantly trying to take food from a source that could kill them when they can easily get food elsewhere."

He seems to agree with my reasoning if his look of realization is anything to go by. "Huh. Hadn't thought of that before. Granted no one really takes the time to study much of anything, especially not Vikings."

I have to agree with him on that. The Viking way is _'poke it with a pointy stick until dead'_ for most things. I get back to work on forging the two end blades and finish just as Zander comes back.

"Sorry I took so long, couldn't find the right length of wood for the staff."

I nod and take it from him. It looks and feels freshly sanded down. "Did you make this?"

"Yeah, had to find a long enough branch in the woods instead so I just worked it down to size for you. Though we may need to cut a bit more off the end for you to use it properly."

I take a few quick swings with it and nod. I bring it over to the cutter for weapon handles and shave some of the end off. Then I bring over the two end spikes and attach those. Once I make sure nothing will break or move, I pick it up to examine better.

"What in gods name is that?" We both look over to Gobber, who's looking at the weapon with confusion and disbelief.

"My new weapon, but this is just a prototype. I plan on adding more to it later." He looks at me. "Your new _weapon?!_ How do you plan on using that thing, exactly?"

Zander takes the staff and walks outside. "Watch." We follow him and stand by the doorway as he walks to the middle of the street. Vikings walking by stop to look at the weapon, giving Zander an audience.

"You all might want to stand back. Wouldn't want to lose any vitals, right?" Some of them pale and all of them step back. Looking through the crowd, I see the other teens watching as well.

Zander does a few practice swings to get a feel for the weapon, then starts going all out. The speed and grace he moves at with a weapon clearly too small for him is very impressive, and the audience seems to think so too. I look over to the teens to see their reactions.

Fishlegs looks like a mix of awed and terrified. The Twins are just in awe. I can tell Snotlout thinks it's impressive, but is trying not to show it. Astrid just looks indifferent, but the sparkle in her eye says otherwise.

After a few more moves, Zander slams the end into the ground and gives a small bow. The audience cheers and hollers for him. "Hiccup, come here." The audience goes quiet at my name and look at me. I tense from the sudden attention, but force myself to walk over to him.

He has a smile on his face. "So, think you can use this?" He holds out the weapon (I really need a name for this thing) for me to take. I hear gasps from the crowd, and that escalates to fierce whispering when I take it.

"No!" Everyone turns to the speaker, and see Astrid storming over. Zander gets in front of me. "No what?"

"Are you crazy, giving him that thing? He can't fight, and he can barely hold it! It should go to someone who actually deserves it!" He glances back to me, and I shrug. "Oh really? How do you know he can't fight? And he seems to be holding it just fine." They both turn to me and I lift the staff up in one hand. She seems to get angrier at that. "And are you saying you deserve it? After nearly beating him to death for speaking the truth?"

There are more gasps in the crowd at that. Not all of them were there that day, but gossip spreads quickly throughout this town. Besides the teens parents, many other villagers came up and agreed with me on some level that my treatment by them has been horrible, but said I did go a step to far for calling her dishonorable. A few even agreed with me and apologized.

However none of them, except the parents, know about the beating. Zander turns to the crowd. "That's right. After Hiccup and Astrid had their verbal lashing, her and the other teens besides Fishlegs and myself cornered him behind his own home - the _Chiefs House_ \- and beat him to the point he could have died if Gobber and I hadn't found him." He turns back to Astrid. "So I am giving him this weapon and will train him how to use it so he can properly defend himself if this happens again."

By now, most of the crowd is glaring at Astrid or the other teens. "Is this true, Gobber?" Said person sighs and walks over to us. "Yes, it is. After I found out the teens were responsible, I told them all to apologize. Fishlegs was off the hook since he didn't participate, and the Thorston Twins sincerely apologized, and got dock work as punishment. Astrid and Snotlout have refused to apologize and are stuck on hard labor. All of them will be punished properly when the Chief gets back."

The crowd starts murmuring again, before slowly dispersing. Soon, all that are left are the teens, their parents that stayed behind from the nest hunt, and Gobber. Astrid's mother comes up. "I'm truly sorry for what she did to you, Hiccup. Make sure to train hard." She turns to Zander. "Make sure to train him harder." She winks at me before walking off. Astrid seethes for a moment more, before scoffing and walking off.

Aunt Hildra grabs Snotlout by the ear and drags him forwards. "I'm sorry too, sweetie. Snotlout! Apologize this instant!" She rounds on Snotlout and he cringes, clearly afraid of his mothers wrath. "Fine. Sorry, Useless." She smacks him over he head. "Fine! Sorry, _Hiccup_." She scoffs before shoving him away. "Please come to me if he ever bothers you, honey. I'll put him into place." She walks off after Snotlout.

The Twins and their mother walk up. "Sorry again for what we did, Hiccup."

"Yeah, it wasn't cool." I give a nod and smile. "Thanks, guys."

They nod in return and focus on the weapon. "That thing is so cool, though!"

"Yeah! Can you make us one?" I back up some from their enthusiasm. "U-uh, sorry, guys. This is kinda meant to be my unique weapon." They deflate at that, but nod anyways. "M-maybe I could upgrade your spears, though." They perk back up at that.

"Really?! Can you make mine shoot fire?!"

"No! Make them shoot lava!"

"Even better!"

"Guys!" They both stop and look at me. "As cool as that might be, it is currently impossible. I don't know what kind of upgrades I'll put in them, but when I think of something, I'll let you know." They have mixed reactions to that, but ultimately agree. "Alright. Later, H!"

"Yeah, have fun!" They both run off and their mother offers a quick apology of her own before taking off after them. Fishlegs and his parents walk up. "I'm sorry too, Hiccup. I should have warned you they were planning something." His father steps up. "If you ever need a place to stay, you know where to find us." His mother nods and I smile. "Thanks, but the woods are fine right now." They all nod and walk off.

Gobber sighs and walks back to the forge. "Well, that could have gone worse." Zander and I look at each other before following him. I make some last adjustments to the staff, and we both leave for Zander's house so I can practice.


	14. Abilities and Demands

(Hiccup POV)

That night had Zander, Toothless and I sneaking into the arena. Since it was cleared up that he is in fact the Guardian, we both agreed that starting my Savior training should start sooner rather than later. While it helps that I'm going to have the perfect excuse for training with Zander, I also have a lot of work to do. Between training with the staff, upgrading the staff, upgrading Toothless' saddle, working in the forge, coming up with a decent plan to get the Vikings to help us, and now Savior training, I have a very busy schedule.

I introduced Zander and Toothless after practicing for a bit with my weapon - which Toothless said I should name Fury - and they both seem to get along fine. I think it helps Zander was one of the few nice people to me in the village, Guardian or no.

Walking in the gate, we all stop short in surprise to see Gothi standing in the middle of the arena. I speak up. "Gothi? What are you doing here?" She turns to us and smiles, then gestures to the cages. "You want to meet the dragons?" She nods.

We share a look and walk over to her. I split from the group and pull the main switch. As the dragons come out, they stop and look at the two new visitors.

 **"Guys, it's alright. You know Zander, and this is Gothi."** Meatlug is the first to come over, quickly followed by Sharpshot scurrying up to Gothi.

 **"Hello, Elder Gothi."** Gothi nods back. "Wait, can you understand them?" She turns to me and nods. Zander chuckles at my shocked expression. "Come on, how do you think she knew about the whole Savior thing? Dragons don't write these things down."

That is true. And with how long Gothi has lived, it shouldn't be surprising she picked up a few things. As the rest of the dragons come over, I introduce each one to the others. Pretty soon, all of us are once again sitting in a circle, with the addition of Zander sitting between me and Stormfly and Gothi sitting next to Meatlug.

**"So last time you were talking about an ability I could do, but said I needed my Guardian to teach me."**

**"Yes, that is correct. Guardian, would you like to explain?"** Meatlug looks at Zander.

 **"Sure. I assume Meatlug said something along the lines of 'go between each side in mind and body'?"** I nod. **"That, in basic terms, means you can turn into a dragon."** I stare at him. **"T-turn into a dragon?"**

He nods. **"Yep. I mean, you can't very well resolve a conflict without knowing both sides of the fight, can you?"** He has a point with that.

**"Is that one of the things you have to teach me?"**

**"Yep. One of many, but don't worry. It isn't exactly easy and could take a while. If you want to start now, we can. I assume that's why you came, Gothi?"** We look over to her and she nods. She smiles at me and motions for me to go ahead. I look back at Zander. **"A-alright. What do I do?"**

 **"We'll start simple. Now, the first dragon type you should always try is the one your Bonded is, in this case a Dark-Wing."** Toothless perks up at that. **"Really? He's going to turn into a Dark-Wing?"** Zander chuckles. **"Not so fast, Toothless. While he will at some point, right now we're just going to focus on something easy."**

 **"Oh, okay."** I pet him some to raise his mood.

**"Alright, lets start with your hands. A full body transformation is to advanced for you right now, so just change your hands."**

**"How do I do that?"**

**"Focus on what Toothless looks like. It may help to close your eyes for this."** I do as he says and close my eyes, concentrating on what Toothless looks like. **"Now, focus on your hands."** I do and feel them start tingling. **"Put Toothless' image on your hands."** The tingling increases. **"Now open your eyes."**

Doing as he says, I look at my hands. While I knew what was happening, I didn't know quite what to expect. My hands up to the middle of my forearms are covered in black scales, but instead of a blue tint like Toothless has, I have a brown tint. My hands are much the same, with five fully functional fingers, but in place of the nails are sharp claws.

Toothless leans forwards to sniff at them. **"They smell like you, but now the dragon scent smells like a Dark-Wing. I like it."** I looked up at the others, who were all smiling. **"Good job. Now to change them back, picture yourself instead and focus on your hands."** I repeat the process and open my eyes to normal human hands.

**"As we train, it will get easier to the point it will barely require a though to change, but for now, that will do."**

I nod. **"What else?"**

 **"Eager, huh? I think that's enough for tonight. Changing forms can take up a lot of energy, especially for inexperienced ones."** Now that me mentions it, I do feel rather winded. I lean farther back on Toothless to relax some.

The rest of the night is filling Zander and Gothi in on the plan as well as more history lessons about dragon culture and Savior abilities. When we finish, Gothi has Toothless and I give her a ride home while Zander puts the dragons back in the pens.

In the morning, Toothless and I go to Zander's house for more Savior and weapon training.

**"Morning, guys. How are you two feeling?"**

**"Tired."** Both of us mumble. We got back to the cove just a few hours before sunrise, and he told us to get here before mid-morning, so we didn't get much sleep.

 **"As expected. Consider it training. Now, before we get started, I have someone I'd like you to meet."** Toothless and I share a questioning look as Zander walks back inside. When he comes back out, both of us are surprised. Riding on his head and shoulders is a baby dragon. He looks about two or three years old, with a light blue and white scale color.

**"This is Zim. Zim, this is Hiccup and Toothless."**

**"Hi!"** He jumps off Zander's head and half glides half falls at my feet and starts sniffing me.

 **"Sorry about him, he hasn't seen many other humans besides me and Gothi."** After finishing with me, Zim goes over to Toothless and repeats the process. **"He also hasn't seen any Dark-Wings either, which is less of a surprise, really."**

Done with Toothless, he runs back over and climbs up Zander's back to rest on his head again.

**"Is he why there was so many claw marks in your house?"**

He grins. **"Yep. That would be him. He's a rather good climber, but it would be nice if he stopped clawing everything."** He says that with a small glare with no real heat to Zim, who just gets an innocent look.

Rolling his eyes, he looks back to us. **"If you haven't guessed, he's a Skrill. Found his egg when I was out exploring and took him in to hatch and raise."** Zim starts purring and nuzzling his head.

**"When? Before or after you became my Guardian?"**

**"After. His egg was on a different island. I think his parents were attacked by Beserkers and they just missed his egg."**

**"You've been to different islands?"**

**"Well, yeah. Since you weren't officially the Savior yet, it fell to me to take care of disputes before they got out of hand. Been to a lot of places because of it."**

**"Oh. Sorry for making you wait."**

**"Hey, it's alright. You can't rush something like that. Now, I do believe we have training to do, correct?"** He walks over to the storage shed and takes out Astrid's former axe and Fury. He hands me the staff.

**"For now, just practice moving and swinging. Since Toothless suggested it be like dragon claws, you should try to use it as such. Constant movement and swipes will keep several attackers at bay, which means you need enough stamina to keep up a long winded attack."**

For the next few hours, that's the only thing I do, moving and swinging. Zander points out places to improve or change, and Toothless gives demonstrations on how he attacks with his claws. After that, he goes against me, much like when I was first deciding a weapon.

At one point, we get unexpected company. Zander notices it first. **"Hold on, someone's coming. All of you, other side of the house. I'll see who it is."** Toothless and I run around the side of the house, with Zim landing on his saddle. Wanting a better vantage point, we jump up to the roof to watch.

Zander has walked around and is now sitting on his porch, sharpening Fury with Astrid's axe on the wall next to him. From trough the trees, I see the rest of the teens walking up. Zander ignores them until they stop a few feet from where he's sitting.

"Can I help you?" He asks in a bored tone. Astrid steps up. "I want to know what's going on." He doesn't look up. "Oh? With what?" She steps closer. "With Hiccup. No one just gets as good as he does. Especially him."

He still doesn't look at her. "And how would you know that, exactly? And since when do you care?"

"Since he started cheating. And I think you're helping him."

"Cheating, huh? And you think I'm helping him? Man, you must be really jealous thinking we're cheating. Go home and cool off, Astrid. You'll hurt yourself otherwise."

She looks absolutely livid at that. Before anyone can stop her, she has her axe out and swinging. Zander sets Fury down and blocks her attack with her old axe. "See? Now leave before you get hurt."

As she goes to swing again, she notices what axe he's holding. "Where did you get that?"

He looks at the axe. "Oh, this piece of handiwork? Found it. Let me guess, you want it back?" She scoffs, but the way she eyes it says otherwise. "Well, too bad. You didn't want it, and I found it." Scowling, she swings again. Zander just leans back to let the attack pass by, then steps forwards, using his height to tower over her.

" _Leave_ , Astrid. You aren't welcome here. Or do you want me to drag your sorry butt back to the village and tell them how you accused me and Hiccup of cheating before attacking me for no reason?"

While his focus was on Astrid, Snotlout started edging around him to grab Fury. Just as he reached it, an axe came down right in front of his fingers. He yelps and jumps back, looking at Zander and seeing the hard glare in his eyes. "Try that again. _I dare you."_

Then Astrid swings at him again and he moves back to block, and this time Snotlout joins in. Zander takes the axe in his left hand and picks up Fury in his right, blocking both axe and sword aimed at him. "We aren't leaving until you fess up or give us that weapon."

Zander shoves them both back and grins. "Then you might be here a while." As they keep at it, with Zander easily holding his ground, I look at the other three. Fishlegs is clearly uncomfortable and was probably dragged here by the others. The Twins are watching the fight with a mix of excitement and disgust.

As the fight drags on, Zim starts whining. I reach over to pet him and feel a slight shock when I touch him. **"Hey, it's okay. Look, he's just fine. They can't hurt him."** As if to prove my statement, Zander pushes them both back and charges before they can recover. He swipes their feet out from under them and holds Fury at their necks.

"I recommend you give up. Unless you want to be dismembered?" Astrid scowls while Snotlout pales. The Twins speak up. "Yeah guys, just stop already." Tuffnut continues. "Seriously, what is your problem?"

Zander moves back enough to let them up, but still in a ready stance should they try and continue. They both stand up, and when Astrid turns around, she attempts to catch him off guard with a swing. Zander hooks the axe with Fury and pulls, ripping it out of her hands and throwing it to the ground behind him. Astrid stares wide-eyed at the axe and doesn't dodge in time to miss getting an axe handle to the head.

Snotlout goes to protest, but also gets knocked out before he can say anything. Zander sighs. "You three, head on back home. Come up with a story about being somewhere in case these two try and rope you into this." All three nod, Fishlegs much more eagerly, and leave. Zander looks back at the two before putting the axe and Fury back in the shed. He grabs Astrid's new axe and Snotlout's sword and puts them in the shed too, before closing and locking it.

He looks up at us. **"I'm going to drag their sorry butts to town. You're welcome to do whatever until I get back."** With that he turns and picks up Snotlout, throwing him over his shoulder before picking up Astrid and doing the same. After he walks out of sight, I speak up. **"Well that was something."**

 **"Yeah."** Toothless agrees.

**"Wanna go watch?"**

**"You bet."** I jump into the saddle and find Zim jumping up after me. **"Hold on, are you allowed to come?"**

 **"No."** He settles down in my lap. I raise my eyebrow and look at Toothless. He looks back at me and give a dragon shrug.

**"Fine. But you'll have to listen to us, okay?"**

**"Okay."**

Toothless and I share another look before we take off, keeping close to the tree tops to avoid being seen.

\- - - -

As we near the village, Toothless drops down below the trees and runs the rest of the way. With our enhanced sight and hearing, we can easily see the town square. Zander hasn't arrived yet, so we sit around waiting for him.

A few minutes later, we see him walking out of the tree line a ways from us. Despite our camouflage and distance, he still looks straight at us, which is rather unnerving. His eyes narrow slightly, then roll as he keeps walking.

By the time he reaches the square, he's drawn a decent sized crowd, including the other teens and their parents. He sets Astrid and Snotlout down with hardly any gentleness. He turns to the crowd.

"So, who want's to guess what happened?" At the quiet murmurs he gets, he continues. "Astrid and Snotlout both came to my home while I was alone. First, they accused Hiccup and I of cheating in Dragon Training and demanded that I confess to it." This got a few gasps. "Then they demanded I hand over the weapon Hiccup made for himself so he could protect himself from them!" This got even more gasps. I saw Astrid start to stir. "And when I refused, they both attacked me! I told them to stand down, but they wouldn't listen." Snotlout was starting to stir now. "Even after I had beaten them, Astrid refused to accept defeat." Astrid sat up at the mention of her name, looking slightly confused. "I warned them both that if they didn't leave me alone, this would happen. Yet they did it anyways." Now that Astrid realized what was happening, she jumped up, reaching for an axe that wasn't there. Snotlout was sitting up. "So, let me ask the both of you, why?"

Astrid was somewhat confused by the question, and Snotlout had no idea what was going on, looking around as he stood up. "Why what?" Astrid asked cautiously. "Why were you so bent on being right that you attacked both me and Hiccup to prove it?" As Astrid looked at the angry faces of the crowd, she started to realize just how badly she messed up.

With no answer forthcoming, Gobber shouldered his way through the crowd, Astrid's and Snotlout's mothers right behind him. All three turned to face them. "Well then lad and lass, what do you have to say for yourself?" Gobber asked.

Astrid quickly recovers. "No! He's lying! He attacked us! He confronted me and Snotlout came to help. I tried to calm him down but he wouldn't listen!" I scoff and see Zander raise an eyebrow. I look at Gobber and can clearly see the disbelief on his face.

"Oh, did he now?"

"Yes! I can prove it!"

"How?"

She turns to the crowd. "Fishlegs! Ruffnut! Tuffnut! Get out here!" All three teens jerk at their names being called, but come forwards anyways. "See? Witnesses."

Gobber turns to them with a questioning look. Fishlegs looks very nervous, but the Twins, being natural liars and actors, step in. "Nope. She's lying."

"Yep. Zander's right."

Astrid turns to them with a look of fury and shock. Fishlegs speaks up after prodding from Ruffnut. "Yeah. We saw Astrid and Snotlout heading towards Zander's house, and with how angry Astrid has been lately, we followed to make sure she didn't do something stupid. When we got there, Astrid was attacking him while Snotlout tried to steal Hiccup's weapon. When he couldn't, they both teamed up on him but he was able to beat them. He let them up and told them to leave, but Astrid swung at him again so he knocked her and Snotlout out and brought them here."

When Astrid realized they weren't taking her side, and went into a full absolutely livid fury, rapidly clenching and unclenching her right hand, which most often had her axe. Snotlout just looked rather pale, with his fear slipping through his tough guy facade.

Gobber just claps his hand and hook with a none to friendly grin. "Well then, that would be four against two. Unless Snotlout would like to confess, maybe get out of a harsher punishment?" They all turned to him, and he shrunk back a little. He kept looking between Gobber's grin, Astrid's glare, and Zander's look of indifference. Finally he blurted: "It was her idea!" Before quickly covering his mouth and rapidly backing away from Astrid.

"Five against one. Welp, the odds don't lie. Which means you are lying, Astrid. I'll let your mother start off your punishment this time." He steps back and her mother steps forwards. "Astrid Hofferson! I am very disappointed in you. How could you attack two of your fellow teens then have the gall to lie about it?!" Astrid stands tall against her mother's rage, but looking closely, she's trembling.

"For what you did, and for refusing to apologize, I think the best punishment is to take you out of Dragon Training." There are several gasps from the crowd at that, and Astrid looks shocked. "W-what? B-but you can't!"

"But I can, and I am. Until you apologize to both Hiccup and Zander and get your act together, you will not be in Dragon Training." With that she walks away, quickly followed by the rest of the crowd. The only ones left are Gobber, Astrid, and Zander.

"I told you not to attack me. I warned you I would do this if you tried. You brought this on yourself." He turns and walks back towards his house.

"I'm very disappointed in you, lass. If you can not work as a team, accept defeat or someone's success, then you aren't ready for trainin'. I hereby remove you from Dragon Training until further notice. You may come and watch, but will not be allowed to participate. Is that clear?"

She just stands there, looking off into the distance. "Is that clear?" He says much more forcefully than before. "Y-yes, sir." She says quietly. Gobber nods and walks off, leaving Astrid there alone. She collapses on her knees and punches the ground, letting out a loud but short scream. We turn away and head back to Zander's house.


	15. Clearly Just a Ruse

(Hiccup POV)

The next few weeks were interesting ones. After Astrid was removed from Dragon Training, she's gotten even more determined to prove Zander and I are cheating somehow. At each class, we can see her watching us, glaring when we look her way. Afterwards, she follows us to either the forge or Zander's house.

One time we pretended to leave and caught her in the act of snooping around, and threatened her with more trouble if she didn't stop, which surprisingly she listened to. She hasn't gotten a new axe yet, since Zander hasn't given either back to her and her mother hasn't let her take a new one.

Our private training has also been interrupted by her several times, which had the same result as her following us. We agreed that we would go to the cove for training after losing her in the forest. To be safe, Toothless and I are also staying at Zander's house, just in case Astrid finds the cove and I'm not there to help Toothless out.

After getting the hang of Fury, Zander said I could go ahead and make the adjustments to it that I had planned before, which I readily did. I added four more spikes, with two at each end below the ones already there, and added the metal reinforcement to the pole. Since I knew just carrying it around would be dangerous, I added a way to collapse the blades to the pole, making it look like an unfinished weapon or oddly made staff. I also made a type of holster for it so I could carry it around on my back, going from my left shoulder to right hip for easy access.

We also have been regularly meeting with the dragons, revising plans and learning about the dragons themselves. Toothless was apparently raised alongside Hookfang in the nest which explains their relationship. Zander brought Zim with him a few times so he could get more draconic interaction.

Fishlegs and the Twins have also been much nicer to me lately. I think Astrid acting so irrational drove them away and made them realize just how bad my life is here. It's nice to hang out with people that I don't have to be scared of, though I do still flinch at sudden moves or when they touch me. They've noticed, but haven't said anything.

I've talked to Gobber a few more times about the dragons. I think I've almost gotten far enough to get him on my side. I've also mentioned a few things to the other three teens, but haven't made much progress.

My Savior training is also going well. I've managed to turn into a Hybrid like Zander, with draconic arms, legs, ears, eyes, wings and tail. He says soon I should be able to do a full body transformation. After that Toothless is going to teach me how to fly and breath fire, since I'm going to be a Night Fury and Zander says it would be best to learn from the species I'm going to be.

Today while out flying, we spot a ship. Getting closer for a better view, I see a familiar banner. "Nest Hunt." Turning, we fly back to Berk to warn the others.

Zander is the first one we find. "I saw the Nest Hunt. They're coming back."

"Ah. Time to put our plan into action?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Start packing your stuff just in case things go wrong. I'll warn the arena dragons so they can prepare."

I nod and run back to his house. Since staying in the woods, I've moved almost all my things to the cove. When we moved to Zander's house, I took everything and brought it here. As part of the plan, if things go wrong, I need to have my stuff ready since I'll likely be officially outcast and probably disowned.

From where we saw them, we have about a day and a half before they get back. And judging from how damaged the ship looked, it may be longer. I can only hope this plan works.

\- - - -

(Normal POV)

Two days later, the ship comes into port. Gobber and some other villagers are standing on the docks waiting for them. Hiccup waits nearby to both see if Stoick is still alive and to listen in on the conversation.

The ship looks much worse up close. Several bite and burn marks are visible, and much of the wood and sail is patched. Stoick is one of the first off. Gobber walks up to greet him.

"I trust you found the nest at least?"

"Not even close."

"Ah, excellent."

Gobber takes his bags and they start walking up the ramp. Hiccup follows them from the shadows.

"I hope you had better luck than me."

"Yeah, I have. But listen, we have some things to talk about." Before Stoick can answer, several villagers come down the ramp.

"Congratulations Stoick! Everyone is so relieved!"

"Out with the old and in with the new, right?"

"No one will miss that old nuisance."

"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"

Stoick turns to Gobber. "He's gone?"

"What? No! See, this is one of the things I need to talk to you about. A lot has happened while you were gone." Stoick doesn't look to reassured but follows Gobber to his house. Gobber has Spitelout, Astrid's father, and the Twins father follow them.

\- - - -

(Stoick POV)

"So you expect me to believe the other teens willingly beat Hiccup to the point of death?"

"Yes, I do! Look at the evidence, Stoick! Three confessions, blood everywhere, and two witnesses. How is that hard to believe?"

"Because why would they bother with someone like him?" I turn to the rest that are present. "Clearly this is some kind of ruse Hiccup is attempting to pull for some kind of sympathy. As such, no punishment shall be given." I receive many looks of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, _what_?!" I look over at Zander.

"Any punishment given to the teens is to be revoked immediately. Astrid will be put back in Dragon Training with top points for the classes she unfairly missed." She gets a rather smug look at that. It gets directed at Zander, but he just rolls his eyes.

"All of you are dismissed. Hiccup and Zander, a word?" Slowly, everyone shuffles out, most looking at me in disbelief or shock. I hold Gobber back until only us four are left.

"Now, as for you two-"

"You are an idiot, Stoick." We all whip around to face Zander.

"What was that?" My voice is deathly quiet.

"I _said_ , you are an idiot."

"And why is that?" I try to use my size to intimidate him, but it doesn't seem to work.

"Because you're afraid. Afraid your son might actually be right about something. Or more likely, that you might be _wrong_ about something. Want to know what else that makes you?"

I glare at him, daring him to say it.

"A _coward_." He ducks under my fist. I go to throw another one, but find Gobber holding me back. "Let go!"

"He has a point, Stoick." I stop and stare at him in disbelief.

"I should banish you all for this." Zander snorts. He ducks under another punch.

"Now, Stoick, calm down-"

"All of you, out of my house!" Seeing that no good will come of this, Gobber quickly ushers both of them out. I sit down in front of the fire and look at the 'blood' on the ground. It looks so real I'm tempted to believe them, but knowing Hiccup and his absurd schemes, this is likely no different.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV)

"That man is beyond reason." Zander has been offhandedly complaining about and insulting Stoick. Since kicking us out of his house, the others that actually support me (which is a very strange feeling) have given their apologies.

The main thing I'm worried about is my plan. I need Stoick to see my side of things, but if he didn't believe this then I'm not sure how to make him believe dragons are good creatures. It hurts that he doesn't believe anything I say or do without hard evidence. Even Gobber couldn't convince him!

"I'm worried that this will all go wrong." Zander looks at me.

"Hey, we can still do this, we just need to revise the plan a bit."

"How? Stoick is the Chief. If he doesn't agree, no one else will."

"You don't know that. I mean, the other teens and Gobber do."

"But they don't know the whole truth."

"Which is what you'll show them when you win." I stop and look at him.

"When I win?"

"Yeah. Even with Astrid back in the class and 'winning', you still have more points than everyone else. So for the semi-finals, it will be you and her. Even if she wins, Gothi will still choose you."

That is true. "But what about Stoick? If Gothi does choose me, he could override her decision."

"No he won't. If there's one person he will listen too, even if he doesn't want to, it's Gothi. If he does anything to or against her, he will regret it."

"Then what about the people? They follow the chief."

"Then we challenge him for it."

I look at him in disbelief. _"Challenge him?!"_

"Yeah. I know I can take him in a fight, and with how well you're doing with Fury, you would have a good chance too."

"Wait, you think I could take my dad?"

"Yep. I can prove it, if you like."

I look at him skeptically. "How?"

"Well, when you were good enough with Fury, I had one final test for you to do. Which is have an all out fight with me."

"All out against _you_?!"

"Yep." The way he so easily said that has me pausing.

"If...if you think I'm ready." He pats me on the back.

"That's the spirit! We should have it in public so people can see just how good you are."

That makes me freeze up. "All out...in public?"

"Well, if people see you're capable, it will help. And Stoick can't deny what so many people say is truth."

I think it over. While doing that in public terrifies me, it would help in the long run. But I still have a question about the challenging part.

"You said 'we' when talking about challenging Stoick. Only one person can make a challenge like that."

"Not if we challenge both Stoick and Spitelout. Both of them are the leaders of the island. If Stoick is unavailable, Spitelout steps up. So if one of us fights Stoick, Spitelout will most likely challenge us when we win. If we take them both out at once, we won't have to worry about it."

That makes me feel better. Knowing someone has your back against two very large and angry Vikings is rather comforting. "Okay. When do we start?"

\- - - -

Zander and I are standing in the plaza. A decent crowd has gathered already, and more are coming. I forgot just how many people are here when no one is gone for the nest hunt.

"Everyone! I have finished training Hiccup with his unique weapon. This will be the final test of his to see if he can really use it."

The crowd starts talking, wondering what the test is. "He will go against me in one-on-one combat. The first to disarm his opponent, knock the other down and pin them, or hit a vital spot wins. If he can beat me, he will have proven himself as a capable fighter you all should be proud of."

More murmuring starts up at that, and some guilty looks as well from the 'be proud of' part. "Gobber! Come be the judge, will you?" Gobber walks forwards but stays just in front of the crowd to give us enough room.

"This is a one-on-one fight, with no interference allowed. I'm looking at you, Snotlout, Astrid. Draw your weapons." I reach behind me and take Fury out of it's holster. Zander takes out a spear I made him a few years ago. It has a sharp blade on each end with metal reinforcement along the pole. The ends of the blades curve back, so he can hook the others weapon and disarm opponents just like me.

"Remember, I want you to prove yourself. So even though you need to win, I won't hold back." He whispers to me before taking several steps back and readying himself. I do the same and we both look to Gobber.

"And...go!" We both start circling each other. His fighting style is the one I know the least. When we trained, he would always use a basic form that I could adapt too, and when training with Fury, he used the other teens forms. This is the first time I'm going to really see what he can do.

I can hear Stoick in the background. "What kind of weapon is that?" Zander must have heard too, since he charges me. I block and the force snaps the blades open. I hear his small gasp and we smirk at each other.

He pulls back and swings again, and I block again. He starts going faster and I realize if I don't start pushing back he's going to overpower me. After blocking another swing, I give myself a burst of speed and push back suddenly. He jumps back to avoid the swing and I charge him before he can ready himself.

He blocks and I start pelting him with attacks like he was. With my continuous movement, he can't get in edgewise until he hooks his spear on my blade. We both start pulling, but neither gaining headway.

My weapon starts to slip from his greater strength, so I throw myself forwards. He overcompensates and we both go tumbling. I catch myself first and keep pushing forwards. He just barely catches his footing and pushes back.

Hooking his weapon again, I pull and spin at the same time, giving myself the extra boost of strength to pull him forwards. As he stumbles forwards, I rush him and kick his back, making him fall down. He goes to roll away, but I expect it and catch his neck with the tip of my blade.

Everyone freezes. No sound can be heard except for the wind. Zander smiles. I move my blade back and he stands up, clapping. He steps over to me and grabs my hand, holding it up. "The Victor!"

The crowd starts cheering and hollering. Several still have looks of shock on them, though most seem genuinely happy for me. I look through the crowd and spot the teens. Astrid is glaring and Snotlout seems nervous. The other three are cheering. I spot Gobber, who is also cheering and...wiping tears from his eyes? Odd. Then I see Stoick.

He is very much living up to his name. His face is unreadable. He's just standing there watching us. I don't think he wants to believe I'm capable of this. Probably because this isn't a 'Viking-like' weapon. He turns and walks away, ignoring the complements he's getting from the villagers about how 'Hiccup toughened up!'

Ignoring the pang in my chest from that, I turn back to the crowd and watch them slowly disperse. Zander speaks up. "That went well."

"It did, yeah. Were you really going all out?"

"Eh, yes and no." We start walking back to his house. "My all out involves claws, wings, fire, and a tail, so no. But it was also yes because the style I used was for when I can't use those things."

By the time we get back to the woods, several people we pass have congratulated me on a good fight. I'm tense the entire way because I don't know how to take it. These people are the ones who always looked down on me, so how should I feel when they suddenly like me?

After getting back to his house and reuniting with Toothless and Zim, Zander clarifies what his plan is.

"So, at the finals, if things go wrong, challenge Stoick to a duel for the title of chief. Work it in that you want to fight both him and Spitelout with me. If he follows tradition, which I think he will, he will have to accept the challenge. After we beat them, call a meeting to try showing them the truth again and we can go from there."

"What if he doesn't accept the challenge?"

"Then Toothless jumps in and we run for it."

"So this is just an added step then?"

"Basically, yeah."

We spend the rest of the day talking. I'm really nervous about what will happen at the finals, but I know they have my back, no matter what.


	16. When Plans Go Wrong

(Hiccup POV)

With Stoick finally back from the Nest Hunt, the semi-final round of Dragon Training started. As Zander said, even though Astrid cheated her way to the top, I still had enough points to come in second. Both of us walked into the ring, looking around at the crowd. The ring had several half-walls set up for hiding but not much else.

Astrid had a smug grin on her face which she never lost after Stoick put her back in training. She hardly spares me a glace, likely perfectly confident in her victory over me. I spot Zander and he gives me a smile and nod. I look around and see Stoick. We haven't seen each other since my duel with Zander, and he still seems to be living up to his name. I can't read him.

The crowd quiets as Gobber pulls a lever, letting Meatlug out. Playing the part, I run over and hide behind a barrier. Meatlug, also playing her part, flies past. Astrid suddenly appears next to me. When she spots me, her smug grin disappears and her rage comes forth.

"Stay out of my way, _cheater_. This is _my_ victory."

She turns to leave but stops when she hears me. "Oh please, if anyone is the cheater here, it's _you_."

She turns back to glare at me. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The only reason you're even here is because Stoick refused to listen to his own people. That means you cheated."

I duck as she swings her axe at me. Meatlug flies by again, but Astrid's complete focus is on me. I jump up and start backing away while she follows and keeps swinging at me. The crowd is silent as they watch Astrid attempting to behead me.

After one particularly close swing, I pull out Fury and block her next strike, opening the blades. She flinches backwards from them and I take the opportunity to push her back. I see Meatlug behind her realize why I haven't come get her yet, and charge us.

Deciding to use it to my advantage, I throw Astrid off balance and Meatlug barrels over her, knocking her away. **"Thanks, Meatlug."** I whisper before jumping on her to act like I'm attacking. She starts flying erratically attempting to throw me off before she swoops towards the ground and I hit her sweet spot. I jump off her as her momentum carries her into the cage. Gobber quickly comes over to close it, and I walk over to the entrance to wait. Astrid comes up beside me and I can tell she's just barely restraining herself.

Gobber comes back over. "Alright, lass. You can go home. You are disqualified for attacking Hiccup."

She stares at us. "No! He attacked me!"

"You attacked him, Astrid. Plenty of people saw it." Zander comes down the entryway. Astrid backs away from him, but he grabs her before she can get away. As she starts struggling, Gobber moves in to help. They start walking up the ramp when Stoick's voice stops them.

"Wait! Wait, the elder has come to a decision."

None of us can believe this. Zander voices it. "What? Stoick, she attacked Hiccup clear as day! That in itself disqualifies her, which means Hiccup wins by default."

"She has reached a decision. You _will_ allow her to choose."

Gobber sighs and helps Zander make sure Astrid is secure in his grip, then has me and her stand on either side of him. He holds his hook over Astrid with an _'I am so done'_ face, and Gothi shakes her head. Gobber holds his hand over me and she nods. Once again as the crowd starts cheering, Stoick looks completely impassive with nothing showing. Astrid is dragged out of the arena struggling with all her might in her fury. Her father comes down to help take her home.

I walk out of the arena and head to the forge. I want to talk to Gobber when he gets here about what will happen to Astrid, because she seems to have completely lost it. As I wait, I draw up some plans for leather armor I could wear. One good thing about my ability to transform is my clothes change with me, either forming holes for my wings and tail or disappearing completely when they wont be of use. This Savoir stuff would be nice if it wasn't for the danger of using it here.

\- - - -

I'm half way through making a chest piece when Gobber finally arrives.

"Hey Gobber. How's Astrid?"

"She's lost it, that's what."

I turn to look at him. "That bad?"

"Yeah. After we took her home, she started goin' on about how you're a cheater, how she deserves the honor, and how this is going against the chief. Had to tie her down to a chair to keep her from tryin' anything."

Wow. I knew she was losing it, but that is just crazy. Much like Astrid now is, apparently.

"Yeesh. Is Gothi doing anything for her?"

"Gothi was tryin' to get her calmed down from her rage, but nothing worked. Besides knocking her out, anyways. That woman has surprising strength for her size..." He starts rubbing his head, likely from remembering the several hits to the head for mistranslating.

"That she does." I go back to working on my armor, asking Gobber for tips about the best way to make it. I work the design into my flight suit and holster, so I don't need several separate pieces.

Once night falls, I take the now completed chest piece and walk back to Zander's house. We fill Toothless in on what happened and Zander sneaks to the arena to fill in the other dragons. Tomorrow is the finals. The make and break point of all this. I have trouble sleeping that night.

\- - - -

I'm standing in the entry way into the arena. Most of the crowd is here already, the main person we're waiting for is Stoick. He has to give a speech, like he does every year, and I'm not sure I want to hear what he has to say. Toothless is hiding out higher on the cliffs, waiting for the signal. I hear the crowd start cheering and see Stoick come into view.

He has the crowd quiet down. "Well, I can show my face in public again!" Some people laugh, others shift uncomfortably. "To think that in just a few weeks, Hiccup would go from being the village nuisance to a skilled dragon fighter? Well, I certainly couldn't believe it when I fist heard it!" He got a bit more laughter from that. "But here we are today. Today, Hiccup becomes a Viking! Today, he becomes one of us!" He gets much more cheering from that.

I hear Zander walk down behind me. We both watch Stoick make his way to his seat. "Well, no pressure, huh?" I snort. "Yeah. No pressure."

"I'll be right here just in case something goes wrong or Astrid tries to sneak in, alright?"

"Alright." Gobber walks around the corner. "It's time, Hiccup. Knock 'em dead." I share one last look with Zander before I walk into the arena. I have my armor on with Fury on my back. I borrowed a helmet from Zander to help make this more symbolic. I walk up to the weapons rack and ignore everything on it, including the shield.

I look directly at Stoick. "I'm ready."

The bar on Hookfang's cage lifts up, and he charges out in a blaze of fire. I told him that we needed to make this convincing, but how we did that was up to him. Guess he wanted to show off. He climbs up the wall and onto the chain roof, spitting a fireball at the crowd that they easily dodge. He comes to a stop right over me and looks down. Slowly, he drops down to my level and advances, snarling. If I didn't know this was for show, I would be rather worried.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." I put my hands up and take slow steps backwards. I hear Stoick. "What is he doing?"

Hookfang looks at my helmet. I reach up and take it off. I look back at Stoick as I toss it aside. "I'm not one of them."

He gets up. "Stop the fight."

"No! I need you all to see this. Dragons are not what you think they are. You don't have to kill them."

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" Stoick jumps forwards and slams his hammer on the bars. The sharp ringing make everyone cringe, but our dragon hearing has Hookfang, Zander and I covering our ears. For us, the ringing takes a few moments to stop. When I look back up, I see Astrid standing there behind Hookfang. She has her axe out and looks ready to kill.

**"Hookfang, move!"** Sensing Astrid behind him, Hookfang jumps to the side just as the axe is thrown. Without Hookfang in the way, the axe that was meant for him is now heading straight for me. I see Stoick's face change from anger to shock and a hint of worry. If this doesn't convince him of Astrid's attempts to kill me, I don't know what will.

As the axe flies over my head, everyone freezes at the shrill shrieking of a certain dragon. _'Crap, he came early!'_

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

While everyone does that, I look up to see a black blur shoot a purple ball of fire at the arena roof. Toothless dives in the new hole and shoots another blast at the ground, kicking up a dust cloud to block everyone's vision. He runs over to me and starts checking me over.

**"I'm fine, bud. Listen, we need to start the plan. See that chain over there? You need to blast it to open the doors."** Thanks to our superior vision, we both could see well enough for me to point out what he needed to shoot. Hookfang was already widening the hole in the arena roof to get out when the other dragons cages were unlocked.

I heard metal striking metal and look over to see Zander keeping Astrid out of the way. The dragons all shove the doors open as the dust clears, giving everyone a good view of what's happening. It must seem quite interesting. All of the dragons out of their cages, the Nightmare flying out of the now enlarged hole in the chains, Zander fighting an enraged Astrid, and me standing next to a Night Fury.

I hear Gobber's astonished "Night Fury" and roll my eyes. As the other dragons fly out of the hole, the Vikings start dropping into the ring. **"Alright, time to go."** I jump on Toothless' back and he moves so he's just under the gap, shoving others out of the way to make room. He jumps and starts flapping, but then ropes are wrapped around us both, forcing me onto his back and keeping his wings shut.

We hit the ground in a slight daze, and I try and figure out what happened. No one would have had the foresight of bringing a bola, and yet that is exactly what hit us. I manage to squirm out of the ropes and set to cutting them loose. I just get the last one cut when someone is throwing me backwards. I hit the ground hard and hear Toothless let out a roar. I sit up in time to see him get tackled by several large Vikings.

"No! Stop! Don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him." I move to rush forwards, but several hands grab me and hold me back. "Please don't hurt him..."

I look around as Toothless gets pinned. I see Zander is also being held back by several people. Astrid is also there. She's looking at me with a calmness I don't like. Someone hands Stoick an axe. "NO!"

They pause and look at me. "Lock it up! I have something to take care of." Stoick hands the axe back and storms out of the arena, the people holding me follow him. I take one last desperate look at Toothless to see him get muzzled.

\- - - -

(Normal POV)

Stoick throws Hiccup into the currently empty Great Hall. He lands on his feet but quickly starts backing up.

"I should have known. I should have seen the signs!" Stoick starts pacing, constantly shaking his head. "I should have known you would be like her..."

"Listen, I know this seems bad, but-" Stoick lashes out with a fist and sends Hiccup to the floor.

"No! How could you take the side of the dragons?! After the took your mother!"

Hiccup gets off the floor. "A mother that wanted the same thing I do!"

Stoick stops. "How did you know about that?"

"The others told me. Look, we don't have to fight them!"

"How can you say that? They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!"

"And you've killed _THOUSANDS OF THEM!_ They defend themse-"

Stoick throws Hiccup back with another punch. "They are mindless beasts! They attack and kill without reason!"

"They attack because they have no choice!"

Stoick shakes his head again and resumes pacing. "They have no choice, dad. There's this monster in their nest. It controls th-"

Stoick lunges for Hiccup and grabs his armor, lifting him off the ground and pulling their faces together. "The nest? You've found the nest?"

Hiccup can see the crazed look in his eyes. He tries to get out of the hold, but Stoick starts shaking him. "Where is it? How did you find it?!"

He stops shaking Hiccup who is now rather dizzy. "I...I didn't. No Viking can ever find the nest." Stoick scowls before dropping Hiccup and punching him away when he lands. He goes to start pacing again but stops when he realizes something. "No _Viking_ can find it..."

Hiccup looks up to see the realization on his face. "Wait, dad, no! You don't know what you're up against!"

Stoick turns and starts walking to the doors, ignoring Hiccup. "Dad, stop please! You can't win against this thing! Oh, for once in your life _WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!"_ He grabs Stoick's arm but just gets backhanded and thrown to the floor again.

"You've thrown your lot in with them! You've never been a Viking. You've never been my son." He turns and walks out the doors. "Ready the ships!"

Hiccup is left on the floor, bruised. He knew that he wasn't a Viking, and that Stoick probably stopped thinking of him as his son years ago, but it still hurt to hear it anyways.

\- - - -

(Normal POV - Arena, Shortly after Stoick left)

Zander is still being held by four other Vikings. Gobber is there as well as the other teens. Toothless has been put in Hookfang's cage.

"I knew you were cheating."

Zander just rolls his eyes. "I still don't see the proof, you know."

"The proof is in that cage, locked up and waiting to die."

"Uh-huh. What does this get you, exactly?"

"It proves I'm right."

Zander snorts. "Not really. All you know is that Hiccup found and befriended a Night Fury that came here to rescue him."

"Exactly! He used that dragon to cheat!"

"How?! How could he have used the Night Fury to cheat?"

Instead of answering, Astrid punches Zander in the gut. It hardly fazes him.

"See? You don't even know!"

"Yes I do!"

"Then answer the question, how did he cheat?!"

Gobber steps forwards and pulls Astrid back. She pulls herself out of his grip and walks over to the entrance. Everyone goes back to waiting in silence, and a few minutes later, a booming "Ready the ships!" rings out. Those in the arena look at each other, before Gobber tells them to wait and goes to see what's happening.

He comes back a minute later, trying to keep up with Stoick. He walks to the teens. "You all have proven yourselves in Dragon Training. I am giving you permission and an order to prepare for the Nest Hunt." The teens all look surprised by this, and Astrid just gets another smug grin. Stoick turns to Zander.

"You may come as well if you renounce Hiccup and the dragons and swear your loyalty to Berk." Zander just snorts. "Please. My loyalty is to Hiccup. But I must warn you, if you go through with this nest hunt, you all will die without glory."

Stoick punches him in the face, then turns to the men holding him. "Take the Night Fury out and take it to the ships. Make sure to chain it up. Put him in the cage when you're done."

Stoick walks away, but stops when he hears Gobber. "Stoick, think about this. We don't know what's at the nest. We should wait and prepare better." Stoick rounds on him. "No! We finally have a way to find it! I've waited too long already to avenge her, don't stop me now."

He turns to walk off again, but Gobber grabs his arm. "Now listen here, Stoick. You know full well something like this isn't to be rushed. You need to prepare better. And these teens aren't ready, they won't be able to handle it."

Stoick rips his arm away. "Fine! If that's how you feel, you can stay here and stick to forging. Vikings!" He looks at the teens. "Get to the docks and help out." He walks out of the arena with the teens quickly following him. Gobber just looks out after him and shakes his head. He turns and sees the Night Fury on a transport platform being pushed out of the arena. Looking at the cage, two of the guards toss Zander in and slam the doors shut, manually replacing the log keeping the doors locked.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV)

I watch as they chain Toothless and haul him onto the boat. I can see Stoick giving orders to everyone, and spot the teens on another boat. I can't see Gobber anywhere, which is odd. Gothi is watching from another platform. I see her shake her head and walk back to her hut.

Soon, all the weapons and catapults are loaded, and they push off. I can hear Stoick's voice. "Set sail! We head for Helheims gate." He looked back up at he cliffs and sees me. We stare at each other for a few moments before he turns and walks to the front of his ship. "Lead us home, _devil."_ The ships pull out to sea and I watch as they fade into the distance.

Several hours later and I'm still standing there. My legs hurt but I can't bring myself to leave. I hear someone come up behind me.

"Well, that could have gone better, huh?"

I just snort. "Why did I have to be chosen as this Savior person? Would have been better for everyone if I wasn't."

"Oh really? And how do you know that?"

"None of this would have happened if I wasn't, simple as that."

"No, not really. All of this still could have happened anyways, just differently. Like when you found Toothless in the woods. You may have shot him down yourself to kill him."

I think back to when I did see him all tied up in the bola. I remember having a fleeting thought of how killing him could fix my life.

"And knowing you, you would have let him go anyways. So why did you?"

"I don't know. He deserved to be free, I guess."

"Okay, but not a good enough answer. Anyone could have thought that with any creature. So why did you?"

"Why is this so important, all of a sudden?"

"Because your answer is important. It says a lot about who you are. So why did you?"

"...When I found him, he looked so...scared. So helpless. And even though I didn't shoot him down, it was still my fault he ended up like that. Knowing what it feels like to be trapped, unable to do anything...I couldn't stand it. When I looked into his eyes...I saw myself in him."

" _That's_ the right answer. You know, I bet he's feeling pretty trapped right now, being stuck on a Viking ship heading straight to their doom. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Eh, probably something stupid."

"Good, but I think you did that already."

I'm struck by an idea. "Then something crazy." I turn and run off. I hear Zander chuckle behind me. "There's our Hiccup."

\- - - -

"Where are we goin' again, laddie?"

Gobber, Gothi, Mulch, Bucket, Zander and I are currently trekking through the forest on the way to the cove.

"We're going to save the tribe."

He grumbles. "That's what you said last time."

I roll my eyes and keep walking. "Listen guys, I need you to trust me on this. What I said in the ring is true, dragons aren't what you think they are. We can work with them."

"Lad, while I agree that the dragons have no reason to raid us, they still do. What makes you say otherwise?" Gobber asks. Zander answers for me. "The main reason is the monster in the nest."

"Monster? Where?" Bucket stops and looks around.

"No, not here Bucket. He's talking about a monster at the dragon nest."

"Oh, okay." They both start walking again while Zander continues.

"This thing is about the size of a mountain and has a huge appetite. She forces the other dragons in the area to raid us to bring her back food."

"And this is the thing the entire tribe is sailing straight towards?"

"Yep."

"Ah, excellent."

A few minutes later, and we arrive at the cove. "Alright guys, leave any weapons you have here before you come in."

"What? Lad, we need them."

"No you don't. Not for this. Please, trust me." Reluctantly, the three older men drop their weapons before following me down. To make sure they don't run, Zander helps Gothi down at the back of the group.

I walk into the cove and see the dragons lounging by the pond. Sharpshot is the first to notice us. **"Savior! You came!"** He flies over and lands on my shoulders, nuzzling me. The others look over and tense at the others coming in behind me.

"Guys, it's alright. They won't hurt you."

"Are these the arena dragons?" Gobber asks. I walk over to the dragons while answering. "Yep. I'd like you to meet Hookfang, Meatlug, Stormfly, Barf and Belch, and Sharpshot." I gesture to each dragon as I say their name, and the dragons each give a small not in turn. I look at the dragons and point back to the other group. "You guys already know Zander and Gothi. You should know Gobber too, but the others are Mulch and Bucket. Bucket is the one with a bucket on his head."

Bucket gives an enthusiastic wave.

"Gothi, why don't you come with Meatlug?" Both of them nod and walk to each other. The other three tense when they get close but relax some when Meatlug lets Gothi pet her.

"Gobber, why don't you take Hookfang?" They look at each other, then back at me. _"Are you sure?"_ They ask at the same time. I try to hide my smile. "Yeah. I'm sure."

Gobber slowly starts inching towards Hookfang, then gets shoved forwards by Zander. Turning back to glare, he takes a step forwards and bumps into something. Looking, he walked right into Hookfang's muzzle. Hookfang snorts on him. "Hey now, I won't be havin' any of that." The dragon rolls his eyes.

"Mulch, Bucket. Come say hi to Barf and Belch." Both heads lower as they come forwards. Bucket freezes up some. "I'm scared, Mulch.

"Hey, it's okay. Look." He holds his hand up, and goes stiff when Belch puts his head in it when he isn't looking. "S-see? All good."

Bucket loosens up and hold up his hand. Barf puts his head in it. Stormfly comes over to us. **"What about me?"**

**"For right now, I don't know anyone who would be a good pair for you. But I will need your help to get Toothless back."** She squawks and nods. I walk over to where I left some things and pull out some rope.

Gobber sees me with it and asks. "What's the rope for, laddie?"

I smile. "You're gonna need something to hold on too."

They look at me, then the dragons, then me again. "You can't be serious."

I smile again and hold up the rope.

"Odin, give me strength."


	17. On The Fly

(Normal POV - Nest Hunt)

After a day of sailing, the hunting party finally reaches the mists surrounding the nest. They turn into the fog.

"Sound your positions. Stay within earshot." Stoick gets several works of confirmation, including one that sounds like 'Haven't a clue.' He ignores it in favor of watching their path.

Astrid, who was put on the same ship, comes up. "What's the plan, sir?"

"Find the nest and take it."

She's a bit put off by his answer, but knows not to question the chief. I mean, why would she when he help take Useless down for her?

Both are silent for a moment when a strange buzzing sound fills the air. They look at Toothless when he starts moving. His head jerks up, his pupils slit, and he looks to the right.

Stoick moves back to the rudder and takes over the steering. He pulls the ship to the right until Toothless is looking straight. As he turns his head, Stoick turns the ship, with some men calling to the other ships which way to go.

The buzzing only increases as they go farther in, and they all give small shouts of surprise when the ship stops moving. Stoick walks to the bow. "We're here." He jumps onto the ground and the buzzing stops completely. Looking at the mountainside, he sees a red tail disappear over a ledge.

He turns back to the other ships as the beach and starts ordering them to unload and prepare the front lines. As they set up, he pulls Spitelout and Astrid aside to discuss the proper battle plan.

"Spitelout, you have the north battalion. Astrid, you will take the south. I will lead the middle. When we crack this mountain open, all hell is going to break loose."

"Yes, chief."

Soon, all preparations are done. Wooden spikes are sharpened and set up, catapults are unloaded and put together. Men and women are in their groups and ready to fight.

"No matter how this ends, it ends today. Catapults!"

Stoick raises his hand, and gives the signal to open fire. Several rocks are launched, striking the mountainside and causing small rock slides. One hits a weak spot and opens up a cave. Stoick walks up to the entrance, and signals for light. The catapult launchers light the hay on fire and send it flying. It just misses Stoick's head as it travels down the cave, showing hundreds of dragons on the walls, ceiling and floor.

Once he hears the distant boom of the rock reaching the end of the tunnel, Stoick lets out a battle cry which is quickly picked up by the others. The dragons all take off and fly out of the hole, with more coming out of all different parts of the mountain. Soon, all the dragons are gone, leaving the very confused Vikings behind.

"We did it!" Spitelout shouts. Stoick looks over the crowd. Everyone seems to think this is over. Astrid looks rather angry she didn't get to kill anything. Sensing something's wrong, Stoick turns back around.

"This isn't over! Form your ranks! Hold together!"

The rest quickly quiet down when a booming roar comes out of the cave. Unseen on the boats, Toothless is trying in vain to get away.

"Get clear!"

Stoick jumps down from the cave just as the mountain starts collapsing from the inside. All the others quickly retreat to avoid the falling rocks. Once far enough, the look back to see a monstrous head coming out of the side, followed by the rest of the body. It is easily the size of Berk.

"Odin help us. Catapults!"

The catapult crews quickly reload and fire, all of their shots doing nothing to it's thick hide. One hits the side of their face, and it retaliates by using the catapult as a snack.

"Get to the ships!" Stoick instantly sees why that is a bad idea, if the sound of gas build up is any indicator. "No! No!" All the ships are soon bathed in flames, and any already on the ships quickly jump overboard. Toothless survives the flames, but is now stuck on a burning, and soon to be sinking, ship.

Astrid runs up. "Chief! What do we do?"

Stoick ignores her and heads for Spitelout. "I was a fool." He can't help but think back to how he learned to get here. It was Hiccup who figured it out. The least Viking person anyone has ever known. Then Zander, giving a warning that was easily dismissed.

_'There's this monster in their nest.'_

_'You can't win against this thing!'_

_'But I must warn you, if you go through with this nest hunt, you all will die without glory.'_

_'We should wait and prepare better.'_

He never listened to Hiccup. All Hiccup ever did was spit lies about everything. It seems that is not the case this time.

"Spitelout! Lead the men to the far side of the island."

"Right. Everyone! To the far side of the island!"

"Astrid, go with the men."

She looks at him in shock. Here is this gigantic monster of a dragon and he wants her to run? "No."

He stops to look at her. "Go with the men, Astrid. That is an order."

"No, chief. I won't run. I'm not a coward."

Stoick can still hear Gobber's warning about bringing the teens.

_'And these teens aren't ready, they won't be able to handle it.'_

If only he had listened to him. If only he had paid more attention.

He looks to Astrid again. "Gobber was right. You aren't ready for this. You refuse to stand down and follow orders. Overconfidence like that will get you killed one day."

He turns and leaves before she can answer, not that she could. She was stunned into silence by what he said. He no longer supported her? She watches him take one of the spikes out of the ground and throw it at the beasts face. He narrowly misses the eye. "Over here!" The huge head lowers down to get a better look at the speck annoying her.

Snapping out of it, Astrid charges. "No, here!" The head moves over to view the other annoying speck. Stoick can not believe this girls ignorance, but for now will tolerate it. The longer they keep this thing away from the others, the better. It starts to back away, losing interest. He goes to shout again, but pauses.

Now he sees why it was backing up. It was preparing to bathe them both in flames. Just as it's about to shoot, an explosion knocks it forwards slightly.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV - Heading To Nest)

So far, there haven't been any complications with our strange group. Bucket will occasionally forget he has a dragon behind or under him and will freak out, forcing Mulch to calm him down, but it's been getting better.

After introducing them, I wanted to fly straight to the nest to stop them, but Zander pointed out the flaws in that. The first was they had a full day of sailing ahead to get there, so we would have enough time to get some proper rest before heading out. The second was that it wouldn't be easy to get Toothless back. We would have to either force everyone into the water, or sink the ships. Neither is appealing.

While we waited, we agreed to tell Gobber about us. He took it rather well, but was skeptical until we both showed him our scales. That convinced him pretty quickly.

We all woke up at sunrise and took off. The others are with the ones I paired, while Zander and I are on Stormfly. I have Sharpshot on my shoulders and Zander has Zim on his.

"Why are you bringing Zim? Isn't this a little dangerous for a...fledgling, right?"

"Almost. Fledgling is when they can fly on their own. He's very close to that, though." Zim croons his agreement. "As for why he's coming, his attacks can be useful. No other dragons in the area can use lightning, and even though his strikes aren't very powerful just yet, it can still give us an advantage."

I nod and focus back on the path.

"Barf, when did you get here?"

"He's been here since we left, remember? We're flying to the nest."

"Oh, right. Why?"

"To help the chief."

"Okay."

Well, at least he didn't freak out over being on a dragon that time. We reach the fog just in time for a horde of dragons to come streaming out of it.

"Well, seems they found it."

"Then we need to hurry. Come on!"

I nudge Stormfly forwards and the others are quick to follow. After a minute of weaving though fog and sea stacks, we come up on the battlefield.

The volcano has been smashed open from the inside, like the monster currently stomping around isn't a clue. Most of the tribe is running for it, and all the ships are on fire. I see the tiny forms of Stoick and Astrid nearby, trying to distract her from the others. As she rears back to fire, I shout to Meatlug. **"Quick, fireball!"**

(Normal POV)

She fires a quick low power shot that throws the Queen off enough to cease fire. As they fly around her, Bucket shouts down to the Chief. "Hi, Chief! This is Barf!" 

Stoick just stares at them. His son, Zander, Gobber, Gothi, Mulch and Bucket are all riding dragons. The arena dragons from the look of it. 

_'Dragons are not what you think they are. We don't have to fight them.'_

Another thing that he didn't listen too. Although it is still is a rather absurd claim. Dragons are not tame, no matter what anyone says.

"Chief, you can't possibly be okay with this."

He turns to look at Astrid as the others fly back up. "If they're here to help, then we must accept it." She scowls, but stays quiet.

In the sky, Hiccup starts planning. "Gobber, can you break her down?"

"Aye, lad. Let's see, big nose, big ears. Probably has good hearing and smell. Lots of spikes...lots and lots of spikes..."

"Gobber!"

"Right! Spikes and giant tail. Should avoid those."

"Then Gobber, Gothi, Meatlug and Hookfang, fly around her head and try to take out her ears and nose. Mulch, Bucket, Barf and Belch. I need you to provide cover and a distraction. Find out if she has a shot limit, make her mad."

"Why do we want to make it mad, Mulch?"

"Because...I don't know. It will help?"

"Okay."

"Just do what I told you, I'll be right back."

They break off from the others and head for the ships, looking for Toothless.

Stoick and Astrid watch as Hiccup and Zander break off from the others, heading for the ships. Confused at first, he doesn't know why he would go there. Unless... _'The Night Fury!'_ The dragon that came to help Hiccup when he was almost killed by Astrid's axe. Hiccup plans to rescue it.

Hiccup spots Toothless on one of the middle ships, partially hidden by debris. **"There!"** Stormfly swoops down and hovers above the ship. Hiccup gives Zander the reins and drops down, Sharpshot still on his shoulders. He looks back up. **"Go help the others!"** Zander and Stormfly give a nod and take off.

Gothi and Gobber have both taken opposite sides of the head to attack, while Mulch and Bucket hang around the front, keeping it's attention.

"Excuse me, big dragon! Why are you so angry?"

"It likely has a temper, like the Chief."

"Really? Hey dragon! Do you have a temper?"

Barf and Belch, seeing the gas building, quickly dive, narrowly missing the flames.

"Mulch, I feel cooked."

"Aye, I do too."

Gobber directs Hookfang around to her nose. "Let's see how she like's having a runny nose. Quick, beastie. Fire!"

 **"I'm not a beastie!"** Despite his complaints, Hookfang fires at her nostrils. Most of his fire hits them, causing her to let out a rather large snort. She looks at them and opens two more eyes.

"Oh. That could be bad."

**"You think?!"**

Gothi is coming around when the other two eyes on her side open up. She thinks for a moment, then pats Meatlug. **"Yes?"** Gothi gestures to the eyes, and Meatlug sees what she's saying. **"Of course! Good thinking."** She flies over and shoots a molten ball of rock at the eyes, knocking out the front two. Gothi pats her for a job well done.

Hookfang, surprised by the sudden explosion and resulting jerk of the head, doesn't move out of the way fast enough and hits his wing on her head, and manages to take out her front eye from pushing off with his claws. Going to land, he realizes he seems to have lost his rider.

"Oi! Beastie! Ya left me up here!" After getting knocked off Hookfang, Gobber is trying not to fall off the monsters head as she moves. Looking at his hammer prosthetic, he gets an idea. Leaning over, he starts hitting both eyes on his side that are still functional. "Ha! This is fun!"

Making it back to the fight, Zander takes stock of the situation. Mulch and Bucket are slightly toasted, Gothi and Meatlug are looking rather pleased with themselves, and Gobber is stuck on the Queens head and is bashing two of her remaining eyes with his hammer while Hookfang is on the ground nursing a damaged wing. _'This is going better than I thought it would.'_

"Doin' good, Gobber!" Looking up at the mention of his name, he waves to Zander as he flies past, then almost falls when the beast moves her head. His trusty hammer gets caught on a spike and comes loose, falling to the ground below. "Well, that's not good."

Meatlug comes around for another shot, but thinks better of it seeing Gobber stuck on it's head. She lands next to Hookfang instead so Gothi can help treat his wing.

Zander flies around. Since explosion attacks are out, and all the other dragons only have that kind of attack... **"Hey Zim, how about a little light show?"** He croons and Stormfly dives down. When they get close enough, she turns and Zander holds Zim up. **"Aim for the eye!"** Zim lets out a bolt of lightning and hits just below the eye, but the shock damage forces the eye shut. **"Good job!"** Zim purrs and nuzzles into his chest. That leaves two eyes on one side of the head.

Hiccup rushes over to Toothless. **"Toothless! Oh thank gods they didn't kill you."** He pulls the muzzle off. **"Hiccup! You need to get out of here, it isn't safe."** Hiccup ignores him and tries to pull the chains loose. Thanks to his new strength, he's able to start splintering the wood, but can't break it. **"Sharpshot, shoot right here."** Complying, he hits where the chain connects to the wood, and Hiccup is able to pry the now damaged wood loose. **"Good, now for this collar."** He starts pulling again, but the Queens tail suddenly comes around and smashes through the ships. The boat rocks and all three are thrown into the water. Sharpshot jumps off Hiccups shoulders and flies to land, while Hiccup focuses on getting to Toothless.

Stoick sees the Queens tail headed for the ships, sees Hiccup and his dragon fall into the water. His first thought is to help, but then he stops. _'Why should I help the one who turned on us?'_ Pushing that though aside, he heads over.

Knowing he won't have the strength, Hiccup decides to put his Savior training to use. He gives himself a tail to swim faster, and claws to help break the wood. It takes a moment, but as he lets out the last of his air, he breaks the latch. Wasting no time, Toothless shoots forwards and grabs Hiccup, shooting to the surface.

Both of them taking much needed breaths of air, Toothless glides over to shore and sets Hiccup down before jumping over to a rock and shaking off. He looks back at Hiccup who is catching his breath still. **"Hurry, we need to go!"** Hiccup gets rid of the tail and claws and runs over. **"You got it, bud."** He jumps on and starts hooking himself in when Stoick grabs his arm.

Stoick was almost to the beach when he saw the dragon launch out of the water. He paused, but pushed forwards. He grabs Hiccup's arm, ignoring how he tenses and the dragons growl. "You shouldn't be here, Hiccup."

Boy and dragon stare at him. They look at each other, then back at him. "I wasn't going to leave Toothless here. Besides, I kinda have to kill the Queen there. My destiny, and all that." He shakes off Stoick's hand and Toothless takes off. Stoick has a flash of a memory at his birth.

_'He will not be a Viking, but he will be a Savior.'_

Zander looks over and sees them climbing. "Excellent timing. Kind of." He flies over to the others. "Mulch, Bucket! Bring Barf and Belch around for a rescue mission!"

"Oh, rescue mission? Who needs rescued?"

"I think Gobber does, Bucket."

"Gobber?"

"Yes, Gobber! You need to gain some speed and do a fly-by pick up!"

**"We're on it, Guardian!" "We will save the Two-Limb one!"**

Gobber, seeing their approach, makes his way to the front of the head, surprising even himself with how steady he is, even with his peg leg. They swoop down in front of him and he jumps, just barely catching the Zippleback between the necks.

"Did we rescue him?"

"Yes, now please land! It's hard to hold on with only one hand!"

As Barf and Belch go to join the others, Zander takes Stormfly around and has her launch some spikes at it's eyes. One hits the mark, leaving her with only one functioning eye. As they shoot away, the Queen starts inhaling, and they get caught up in the current.

 **"Crap, crap, crap, not good..."** He panics when Zim loses his grip. _**"Daddy!"**_ Zander lets go of Stormfly, only holding on with his legs to grab Zim before he gets sucked in. **"Zim! Lightning!"** Charging up, Zim lets out a lightning bolt at her mouth, hitting the inside and causing her to shriek in pain. At the same time, Hiccup and Toothless make a dive for the head, letting out another blast that knocks the Queens head aside.

The resulting explosion sudden lack of air resistance sends them tumbling. With his lack of grip, Zander gets separated from both Stormfly and Zim. Stormfly heads to land, disoriented from the changes in air pressure and sudden exertion.

Zander reaches for Zim as they fall, just barely catching his tail as he pulls Zim to his chest. Having no other choice, he starts to take his cloak off, before suddenly having his leg grabbed.

 **"Did you get them?"** Toothless looks under him. He sees Zander look at him and smile, clutching Zim to his chest. He smiles back and looks up. **"Got 'em."**

They fly over to where the others landed. Toothless flips him over and slows down enough to set Zander down gently. As they fly off, they hear Zander. **"You got this, Saviors."**

Looking down over the Queen, Hiccup must say he's impressed. Five of the six eyes (and when did she get six of them?) are out, one of her nostrils has cooling liquid fire in it, and she has a gash in her mouth from Zim. But she hasn't been taken out yet. **"That thing has wings! Okay, let's see if she can use them."**

They fly high up into the air, before flipping around to make the famous screech of a Night Fury. Hiccup notices the villagers ducking and inwardly chuckles. As they pull up, Toothless lets out a high powered blast, hitting the side of her face hard enough to knock her over. They fly past.

Stoick walks back over to join his village in watching his son and dragon take on the monstrous beast. He looks to Gothi who has finished tending to the Nightmare's wing. "You said he will be a Savior." She looks at him and nods. "For us or the dragons?" She doesn't answer. They look back up at the Night Fury shriek and Stoick has to fight the instinct to duck. The blast the dragon lets loose is strong enough to knock the monster over, causing the ground to quake. Looking up, everyone gets a good view of the things enormous wings opening up.

 **"Think that did it?"** They both hear massive wing beats behind them. **"Yep. That did it."** They pick up speed. **"Well, she can fly."** Taking a quick glance behind them, Hiccup is slightly alarmed to see the Queen easily keeping up with them. They move over to the sea stacks and start weaving through them to try and slow her down. It doesn't work to well.

They both fly past, and the villagers cheer for them. Then promptly shut up as the Queen flies past and they have to start dodging bits of rock that fly at them.

 **"This isn't working Hiccup!"** Looking around, Hiccup spots the dark clouds looming over them. **"Alright bud, time to disappear!"** Shifting the tail fin, they both shoot upwards, the Queen having a harder time with the climb. **"Incoming!"** They roll out of the way as a torrent of flames passes them.

Those on the ground watch as boy and dragon dodge the flames then disappear completely into the clouds. Soon, the only thing they can hear is the angry roars of the monster.

 **"Okay bud, we're high enough. Aim for the wings."** Toothless nods and they dive again. The Queen swings around at the sound, but can't stop them from blasting her wing. She lets out a roar as they hit her other wing. Over and over her wings are blasted until her anger hits a peak.

The flashes of light are the only indicator of how things are going. Then they hear an enraged roar and flames are flying everywhere.

 **"Look out!"** Hiccup calls up his scales and they both only get slightly roasted from the hit, but the sound of burning says the tail fin wasn't so lucky. **"Okay, times up. Let's see if this works."** They fly right in front of the Queens nose. " **Come on, is that the best you can do?!"** Toothless joins in. **"Catch us if you can Eel Breath!"** Snapping at them, she follows them into a steep dive.

They see the Queen before they see Hiccup and his dragon right in front of it. Not knowing what the plan is, all of them are worried.

Hiccup looks back at the almost gone tail fin and the Queen behind it. **"Stay with me bud, we're good. Just a little longer."** They can see the ground coming up now, and hear the Queen building up more gas. **"Hold, Toothless."** A few more seconds. **"Now!"** He slams on the pedal as Toothless spins himself to face the dragon. He sends one last plasma blast down her throat and sets her insides on fire. The ground comes fully into view, and the Queen, having been mostly blinded, doesn't see it in time to stop. She throws open her wings, but the holes made tear further and she falls to the ground, unable to stop herself.

The dragons mouth lights on fire, and her wings tear as she falls. When she hits the ground, a massive fireball in her gut explodes, sending a massive shock wave over the island and gathered Vikings. They're forced to duck and cover themselves, unable to see if the boy and dragon made it.

As the fire creeps up on them, they swerve and dodge the spikes along her back. Just as they reach the looming tail, Toothless' tail fin comes completely off. Thinking fast, Hiccup detaches the safety lines and takes his feet from the pedal and stirrup. He gets his claws out and grips the saddle before bringing out his wings and tail. He flares them, giving the needed lift to avoid a direct hit, but one of the spikes still manages to clip his leg. He screams and falters, and suddenly both of them are falling. Unlike the first flight, they have nothing to catch them. So they just grab on to each other and fall into the flames.


	18. Is it Betrayal?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This chapter has an amputation in it! You have been warned!

(Zander POV)

When the flames died down some, I charged in, looking for Hiccup and Toothless. It was still hot enough that the rest wouldn't be able to follow for a bit since they don't have scales, so it will give me enough time to find him.

I would try and find their scent, but the ash is too thick for that. I can't hear anything either, so they must have been knocked out when trying to fly away from the flames.

Thinking about it, the tail fin probably caught fire. We should have made the thing with scales or something. We'll probably do that once we get out of here. I don't think Stoick took to kindly to being saved by an outcast.

 **"Hiccup! Toothless! Where are you?"** I barely pick up a faint whine. Running over to where I heard it, I spot Toothless.

He doesn't look too good. He has dozens of small cuts, likely from crashing, and my guess about the tail fin seems to be correct, considering it isn't even there. The worrying part is that the saddle is empty, and there isn't any sign of Hiccup anywhere.

I kneel next to his head, and Zim jumps off my shoulders to paw at his wings. **"Toothless. Wake up."** I push him slightly, and he groans. Slowly, he opens his eyes and I can tell he's having trouble focusing. **"Toothless, it's me, Zander. Where's Hiccup?"**

He takes a moment to figure out what I said, then starts opening his wings. Wrapped tightly in his paws is Hiccup, who also appears to be holding Toothless tightly with his arms, wings limp on his back. I can't tell if he's breathing. **"Let me see him, I need to check him over."**

Begrudgingly, he loosens his hold and lets me take him. I bring my ear to his chest and can hear a faint heartbeat. **"Oh thank goodness, he's still alive. Barely."** I start looking over the rest of him. He has several bruises and small cuts much like Toothless. His wings seem to be fine, along with his tail, though they do have several small nicks in the membrane. Looking at his legs, my breath catches.

His right leg is fine. His left looks like it was speared. A massive hole is on each side of the leg and it looks like he lost a lot of blood. Again. The good part is it seems the flames they fell through cauterized it. Still, we'll have to get that looked at. I turn to Toothless. **"Can you move?"**

He attempts to get up, but is clearly too weak at the moment. **"Alright. Here, hold on to him. If anyone but me, Gothi or another dragon comes over, keep still and try not to let them notice you."**

I put Hiccup back in his grasp and he re-tightens his hold, folding his wings back over. **"Zim, stay with them and shoot at anyone else that gets close, alright?"**

 **"Okay."** He works his way into Toothless' wings to hide. I shake my head and turn back to where I hear the Vikings slowly making their way over, with Stoick leading the group. I look around for Gothi and spot her hovering above everyone on Meatlug, looking for something. Staying out of sight of the others, I discreetly wave and catch their attention. I point to where Toothless is and they nod, taking off in that direction.

Knowing they'll need time, I move to intercept Stoick. "Hey, Stoick!" They all pause to look at me.

"I believe you mean chief."

"No, not really. If I did, I would have said 'chief.'"

"You dare disrespect me?"

"Yeah. I do. Because you suck at being a leader."

He stalks up to me dangerously. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, the first thing is you have a habit of not listening to warnings. And listening in general."

He scoffs. Gobber walks up, no Hookfang in sight. "He's right, you know."

Stoick whirls on him. "What? How can you side with him?"

"You do realize Hiccup and I both warned you that if you came here, you would all die, correct?" Stoick gets a few looks at that.

"Yet we survived."

"Only because we came to save your sorry butts. You would all be dead by now if it wasn't for us."

Most of the people are agreeing with that. And as a result are glaring at their chief. Before he can respond, Gothi walks up.

_'He is stable but must get proper treatment quickly. I do not have the materials to help him here.'_

I nod and look back at Stoick. "Well, looks like I need to go. Have fun trying to get home!" I turn and run off to where Hiccup and Toothless are.

Hookfang, Stormfly, and Barf and Belch have joined them. I don't see Meatlug, so she must be watching Gothi from somewhere. Toothless looks a little better, but isn't able to stay up for long. Hiccup is resting on his side, leg bandaged with strips from his shirt. Zim and Sharpshot are next to him.

**"Alright guys, we need to leave. Hookfang, you'll have to carry Toothless. Stormfly, I'll need to carry Hiccup with you. Barf n' Belch, fly over to the other dragons and tell them to follow us when we get into the air."**

They all nod. Barf and Belch take off and Hookfang helps Toothless stand up. I walk over and grab Hiccup. Stormfly lowers herself to help me get him on. I lay him on his stomach and pick up Zim. I set him farther back and get on myself. I move Hiccup again so he's sitting up with his injured leg as elevated as can be. Zim jumps onto my shoulders and Sharpshot carefully lands in Hiccup's lap.

Carefully, Stormfly stands and takes off, doing her best to keep from jostling Hiccup and getting out of there as fast as she can. Hookfang jumps up after us, grabbing Toothless in his claws as he goes. The ash has cleared enough by now that the villagers can clearly see us leaving, and some let out shouts of surprise.

Stoick, at the front of the group, spots Hiccup in my arms. There's a flash of worry in his gaze, but it quickly gets replaced by anger. Astrid shoves her way to the front, a murderous look in her eyes. She grips her axe and prepares to throw, but is stopped by Gobber. She starts screaming and cussing, but cant get out of his hold.

Behind all of them, the dragons see us and start taking flight. Stormfly angles to fly in the direction of Berk, and the rest follow behind us and Hookfang. We quickly fly into the fading mist and out of sight of the Vikings.

\- - - -

**"Are we almost there, Guardian? My wing is aching."**

I look back at Hookfang. While his wing wasn't badly hurt, flying this far with the extra weight of Toothless is straining it.

**"Yeah. We should be there within the hour."**

I look down at Hiccup. He's become rather pale and feverish, which is a bad sign of infection. I urge Stormfly to go a little faster.

On the way back, the rest of the dragons we rescued were filled in on what exactly is going to happen and why they're now free. After they all fled, they planned on getting as far away as they could before the Queens presence just vanished. Wanting to know what happened, they came back to see the Queens corpse. The arena dragons told them a Savior freed them, and to stay away from the Vikings. Now they know the full story of how we took her down. _'I wonder how Hiccup will feel about being the leader of an entire nest.'_

We ran into Gothi who was already heading back with Meatlug. She must have left just after telling me how Hiccup was. So now all of us are trying to get back to Berk with an army of dragons following us. Totally a normal day.

Soon Berk comes into view. I turn back to the dragons following us. **"Alright guys, I need you all to hang out in the woods for now. I'm going to take Hiccup to the healers den for his leg. Not many Vikings are here right now, but still be careful."** They all give their agreement and spread out over the trees, finding various places to land. Stormfly, Hookfang and Meatlug all head to Gothi's hut.

Landing, Stormfly once again lowers herself to the ground. Sharpshot and Zim both jump to the ground while I hold Hiccup bridal style and slide off, which is a bit awkward with his wings. I have to make sure I hold him high enough that his tail doesn't drag. Hookfang comes in next and drops off Toothless, who had regained enough strength to stand on his own. Meatlug lands next and lets Gothi off as Hookfang comes back around to land.

Following her inside, Gothi has me lay Hiccup on one of the tables in the medic room, again made awkward with his wings. Toothless follows us, having a bit of trouble squeezing through the door while making sure not to knock anything over. Sharpshot and Zim are on his back.

I look outside to the other dragons. " **You guys can go join the others. I may be calling you guys back soon, so keep an ear out."** They nod and take off, heading into the forest.

Gothi goes around grabbing medicine, bandages, and a small knife. I light a fire and move to boil some water over it. Soon, we have everything ready and move to Hiccup.

She cuts off his pant leg and looks at the wound. It's gotten worse, and clearly has an infection. **"His leg must have gotten impaled by one of the rocks or spikes on the Queen that was dirty."** Gothi nods and moves over to a pile of sand and starts writing.

_'His leg is too badly infected to treat properly. We will need to amputate it.'_

**"Oh...that's not good."** I look over at Hiccup. You can clearly see he's in pain, subtly shifting and quietly moaning. Looking at Toothless, he's clearly distressed and upset he can't help his Bonded. This won't be easy to break to him.

 **"Toothless."** He looks over to me. **"We're going to need your help with this."** He perks up, happy he can do something to help. I have him move around so his body is covering and holding down Hiccup's while leaving his bad leg exposed. Gothi quickly sets the bandages and medicine next to them and has Sharpshot sit next to her. I grab the axe.

 **"Wait, what are you doing?"** Toothless is eyeing us warily, clearly knowing something is up. I take a deep breath. **"We need to amputate his leg. It got infected and has spread too much for us to save it."** He takes a minute to figure out what 'amputate' means and when he does, he looks horrified. **"What?! No! We can't-"**

 **"We have to or else he will die."** He stops. **"Look, I don't like this any more than you do. If there was a way around this, I would gladly take it. But as it is, removing his leg is the only way to keep the infection from spreading."**

Toothless stares at me for a moment before giving a resigned nod. I step up and look to Sharpshot. **"After we do this, I need you to flame the wound. If you don't, he will bleed out and die, alright?"** The Terror also gives a resigned nod.

I look to Gothi. She gently moves Hiccups leg out for better access and shows where I have to cut, just a few inches below the knee. **"He's probably going to start thrashing and screaming when I do this. Make sure you hold him down so he doesn't get hurt more, alright?"**

Toothless nods and I raise the axe. Gothi nods. Taking a breath to steel myself, I bring the axe down.

The screaming is probably the worst part. The pure indiscriminate pain in his voice has everyone grimacing. It's so loud it could easily be mistaken for a dragon's roar.

I wish I could say this is the first amputation I had to do. In my travels I've found several dragons that needed this done from traps, Vikings and even other dragons. I've also helped Gothi with a few on humans. While I didn't like needing to do them, I knew it had to be done. But this, doing it to the one I'm suppose to protect? It feels like I'm the one being stabbed.

Gothi quickly removes the dead leg and has Sharpshot cauterize the new stump. She takes the slowly cooling boiled water and cleans the dead skin. She rubs some ointment on it before bandaging it.

Hiccup slowly stills and stops screaming. Toothless gets up and starts licking him anywhere he can get too, but avoiding the stump after getting a whack from Gothi.

After Toothless finishes, I pick Hiccup up and carry him over to one of the bed Gothi has set up here. Setting him down, I make sure he's comfortable before backing up and letting Toothless take his spot next to him.

I clean up the table and put away the used materials. Gothi has me help her make some painkillers and feed them to Hiccup.

_'He should wake up within two weeks thanks to his advanced healing.'_

**"Okay. I'll let Toothless know."** I walk back in to find Toothless staring at Hiccup with Zim on his head and Sharpshot curled around Hiccup's head. **"Gothi says he should wake up within two weeks."** I get a small nod in response. I sigh and walk back out.

 **"I'm going to get some food for them. Do you need anything else while I'm out?"** Gothi nods and hands me a list of herbs she's running low on. Most of them can be found on Berk, but some are on other islands.

 **"Okay. I'll get started on this after I get some fish."** She nods and walks over to check on Hiccup. I walk out and into town.

**"This is going to be a long two weeks..."**

\- - - -

(Next Day)

After making sure Toothless was fed, I went to check on the dragons that came here from the nest. Most of them were unsure of what to do and since Hiccup was out and Toothless wasn't going to be leaving his side, that left me in charge of them.

I explained why Hiccup wasn't able to see them, and they all wanted to stick around to thank him personally for his sacrifice. Never say a dragon has no concept of gratitude.

Thinking it over, Hiccup is likely going to have a hard time with finding himself with one less leg. He needs someone with experience to help him and the best person for that would be Gobber. At the moment, he's stuck on dragon island with the rest of the tribe, so I'll need to get him back here.

Which is why I'm currently trying to convince Hookfang to come with to get him back.

**"Hookfang, come on. You know you like him."**

He snorts. **"Please. I only let him ride me because Hiccup asked. That human stinks like you wouldn't believe."**

**"I think I know that, thank you. Look, I need him back here to help Hiccup. He's the only one who can help with the loss of his leg because he went through it himself."**

Hookfang looks more convinced by that, but isn't quite there yet.

 **"Please. If not for me, then for Hiccup."** He sighs.

**"Fine. I will go with you to get him. But after that, he stays off me."**

**"I'll see what I can do. Thank you."**

Barf and Belch were much easier to convince. Since I'm making the trip, I figure I can get Mulch and Bucket while I'm there. They are needed here to help with the fishing, which is kinda important. Stormfly invites herself on the mission, probably so she isn't left 'alone'. That or maybe she considers me her partner. Would make sense since it was us that worked together against the Queen.

I plan to leave at sunset, since the tribe will likely be sleeping by then which will make sneaking in much easier. Gobber should be easy to get. Just need to tell him Hiccup needs his help and off we go. Mulch and Bucket will be trickier, since Bucket doesn't have much of a concept of 'stealth'. My main worries are with Stoick and Astrid.

I'm not sure just what Stoick is thinking. He's clearly having a hard time believing this is happening, or that Hiccup could be right about something. And Astrid has simply lost it. It may not completely show, but set her off and anyone who doesn't see it has something very wrong with them.

I should have been able to stop her from throwing that bola. I'm still not sure why the people who jumped in took her side, especially when she nearly sliced Hiccups skull open. This may have been avoided if I had managed it.

That evening, the three dragons meet me at Gothi's hut. I give Gothi the herbs I was able to find and check on Hiccup again. Zim wants to come, but since he can't quite control his lightning, he may give us away with a stray bolt. Not the best thing for stealth. Instead I promise to let him come with me to the other islands I need to head to for herbs. I give a few words of encouragement to Toothless before jumping on Stormfly and heading out.

\- - - -

(Normal POV - Dragon Island, That Night)

They landed on one of the sea stacks that gave a good view of the beach while keeping them hidden. Scanning the area, they spot several campfires spread out along a large section of the beach. Their targets are on opposite sides of the encampment, with one of their opponents close enough to be worrisome.

There are several lookouts stationed throughout the camps, focusing on the fires and occasionally looking up. Deciding to split up, Zander and Stormfly head to the right for Gobber while Barf and Belch head to the left for Mulch and Bucket. Hookfang heads down the middle, ready to make a distraction.

Astrid is near the middle of the camp. She has been unable to sleep properly since the battle. Her mind keeps flashing through what she saw, and how wrong it was. Vikings and Dragons are meant to be at war, not working together. Dragons know nothing other than how to attack, kill, steal and eat. They wouldn't raid if it was any other way.

She has a strong sense of foreboding. Most call her paranoid, and maybe she is, but she knows something is going to happen tonight, and she wont rest until it has been dealt with. Which is why she swears she saw a shadow flick across the sky. It wasn't the Night Fury, wrong body shape for that. She feels a slight pang of disappointment at that. Killing that dragon would put her at the top, or would have if Hiccup the Useless hadn't come in and stole another kill from her. Still, killing the Night Fury that Useless seems to like so much would give her some satisfaction.

Stoick was also having trouble sleeping. His mind is on repeat over the warnings he ignored, the battle that almost killed them all, Hiccup coming in to save them, then leaving them all here to rot. It made little sense, but what he does know is that somehow, his runt of a son managed to tame and control one of the deadliest dragons known to man and ride it into battle.

All his life, dragons have attacked his home. He saw them as an annoyance, something that you didn't like but couldn't get rid of. Then came Valka. She thought differently, always saying we didn't have to fight. Then as a mockery a dragon carried her off into the night, leaving him with their son, who so painfully reminded him of her. He saw the dragons as monsters since then, and stopped at nothing to make them pay however he could. He didn't care that he neglected his own son, his only focus was getting revenge.

Now that boy he shoved aside has turned the monsters into weapons, tools for war. That much was proven when he arrived on the back of one. Then he left and the dragons that had fled the nest followed them, straight back to Berk. What did he plan on doing? Nothing would be able to stop them from burning the place to the ground. He pushed his people to rebuild the ships they could as fast as possible, even though most had doubts Hiccup would do something like that.

Barf and Belch had an easy time getting their charges to follow them. On one of the outer camps, all they had to do was get the one called 'Bucket' to see them. Cheerfully, he got up and went to them, the other called 'Mulch' quickly following him. They were able to get in and out before Hookfang even got started. Their main problem was keeping them from asking questions they couldn't answer for lack of common langurage. So they were forced to wait with two nagging humans while the others finished their part of the mission.

Hookfang figured his job would be easy. Just fly in, cause a scene, fly out. Turns out it was easier said than done. As soon as he lit on fire, things were thrown at him. Dodging at least twelve axes at once wasn't an easy job. Then that angry blond one came and he was quickly backing up, trying not to lose his head. _'If I survive this, the Guardian owes me big time.'_

Zander and Stormfly watch as Stoick stalked off, trying to see what the disturbance was. Gobber, in true Viking fashion, just kept snoring. Stalking over, with Stormfly keeping watch, Zander tried shaking him awake. Over the years of hanging out with Hiccup, he has come to learn Gobber is a rather heavy sleeper. Once out, he stays out until he feels ready to wake up. That, or... "Gobber, someone's stealing your undies."

"No! Not me undies!"

Zander smirked. _'Works every time.'_ He stays still as Gobber looks around, not saying a word until he finally turns to his left.

"Oh, lad. What are you doin' here?"

Zander raises an eyebrow. "Hello to you too. Listen, Hiccup needs your help."

This gets Gobber's attention, him straightening and his tiredness leaving in an instant. "What happened?"

"Best explained on the way. Come on."

He gets up and taking one last look around, heads to where Stormfly is waiting, Gobber on his heels. They both stop when they see Stoick, axe in hand, standing over a tied up Stormfly with a few other Vikings. "Going somewhere?"

 _'Oh, this is bad.'_ Zander thinks while making sure to make no sudden moves. "Yeah, was planning on heading home. Nothing special."

"Then why is Gobber with you?"

We both look at the blacksmith, who just smiles.

"I need his help."

Stoick raises an eyebrow. "With?"

"I need him to forge something for me."

His grip on the axe tightens. "What would that be?"

Zander has to resist rolling his eyes and making a snarky remark. "Nothing big, but I need it soon."

"So soon you couldn't wait for us to come back?"

Zander can tell he's probing for information, but what kind of information is the question. "Yeah, figured it might take a week or two for you to get back, and I need it ready in a few days."

His eyes narrow. "We would be back sooner if you hadn't left us to rot!"

A snort. "Two things. One, we didn't leave you here, nor did we destroy your only way home. Two, would you really be fine with riding a dragon back to Berk?"

He tenses, gritting his teeth. He adjust his grip on the axe slightly. Zander hears something behind him and barely ducks in time. Astrid snuck up on him while he was talking. Dodging another swing, Zander takes out his spear and swings back. Then Stoick is jumping at him from behind and he has to roll out of the way.

"Quick question, why are you trying to kill me?"

Astrid answers. "Your a traitor. You chose to side with Hiccup, with the dragons!" She swings again while Stoick moves around him, attempting to corner him.

"Uh-huh, right. See, I think your logic is a little off." Stoick swings this time, and he blocks.

"You refused to swear loyalty to Berk! You chose our enemies over us, your own people!" Both swing at the same time, and he hooks Astrid's axe while blocking Stoick's.

"You stopped being my people when my family died! You left me for dead the first winter!" He makes a spin attack, using the length of his spear to force both of them to jump back.

"Hiccup was the only one who stayed by my side! And I'll be damned if I leave him after that." Before either of them can get close, he charges though them, body checking Stoick out of the way. He ducks under Astrid's swing and runs to Stormfly.

He spins around and catches the axe thrown at him by the blade, a sharp ringing echoing through the beach. Astrid stares at him in shock. "Part of the reason I always wear metal gauntlets. Now of you don't mind..." He takes the axe by the handle and slices through the ropes holding Stormfly down, and she quickly jumps up and flames the ground behind her, keeping the other Vikings from advancing.

He turns to Stoick and Astrid. "You can't betray something that already betrayed you." He jumps on Stormfly and she takes off.

"Give me back my axe!"

He looks at the axe thrown at him. How many axes has he taken from her now? Three? Four? He looks back down at them. "Nah, I think I'll start a collection!" They quickly fly out of range of any bolas that could be thrown at them and head for the sea stack. He's greeted by a disgruntled Gobber.

"Ya could have warned me about gettin' nabbed like that." He gestures to Hookfang, who seems somewhat smug.

"Let me guess, after the other two attacked me, he came over and dragged you off?"

"Aye. He wasn't too gentle either."

"Eh, you didn't lose any other limbs, I'd say your good." He snorts and Zander turns his attention to the rest of them.

"Alright, the reason I came back for you is simple. You two need to get back on fishing duty on Berk." He looks at Mulch and Bucket. The former nodding in understanding and the latter just nodding. He does that sometimes. Zander turns to Gobber. "And you have two jobs."

"Oh? And what would they be?"

He takes a breath. "Helping Hiccup adjust to losing a leg."

Silence follows. Gobber just freezes, taking that in. His face betrays nothing, but his eyes are a different story.

"He...lost his leg?"

"Infection. He was injured in the fight, his leg got hit and his wound was badly infected. By the time we got back to Berk, it was to late to save it."

Gobber takes a deep breath. He knows full well what it's like to lose a limb, having lost two already, but he was in his adult years when that happened. Hiccup is barely a teenager and he already lost one. His face changes to determination. "Then what are we waitin' for?! Let's go!"

He jumps on an unprepared Hookfang and ends up slamming his head into the ground with his bulk. "Sorry beastie, but we need to go. I have my apprentice to help."

Hookfang grumbles but complies. Zander helps Mulch and Bucket onto Barf and Belch before sending them off. Then he turns his attention to Stormfly.

**"Are you alright? What happened?"**

**"I'm fine, Guardian. Nothing I can't handle."** He fixes her with a stare. She shifts uncomfortably. She caves. **"Fine. I got a few cuts and my leg aches, but nothing major."**

Zander moves forwards. **"Which leg?"**

She sighs. **"Right."**

He looks it over. **"So what happened? How did they get you?"**

**"When the Two-Limb one shouted, the Viking Alpha came back. I moved to warn you, but more came and threw their rock-vines at me. They forced my mouth shut and stopped me from moving. Then they waited for you to come back."**

He prods at different places on her leg. **"Well, nothing seems hurt. Just make sure to tell me if it gets worse, alright?"**

**"Yes, Guardian."**

**"You can call me by my name, you know."**

She looks up. **"I may?"**

**"Well, yeah. I'm not big on titles, and I don't like making my friends use any when talking to me. Way to formal."**

She looks hopeful at that. **"I may call you friend?"**

He looks at her. **"Yeah. Why not?"**

She smiles and nuzzles him. **"Thank you. I did not have many growing up."**

Zander laughs. **"Trust me, I know the feeling. Now come on, cant let the others get back before us, right?"**

She trills and lets him get on, then shoots off into the night, feeling much better than before.


	19. Challenging Trials

(Hiccup POV)

I groaned as I woke up. I feel rather sore, and my leg is slightly throbbing. Opening my eyes, I'm greeted by a large scaly head. Then I get a face full of slobber.

 **"G-gah! Wh-what?"** I reach up and wipe off my face. When I look again, I can see Toothless is literally shaking in place with excitement. He jumps me.

 **"Hiccup! Your awake!"** He starts licking me again, progressively getting more forceful and ignoring my protests. Then he steps on my stomach. I sit up and get a good look at my surroundings. Based on the lack of furniture and several claw marks in the walls, I'm in Zander's house.

Toothless, unable to stand still, starts running and jumping everywhere. There isn't much to knock over, but he does add to the marks on the floor.

 **"Uh, Toothless? What happened? Why are we here?"** He doesn't seem to hear me, considering he just jumped onto the rafters. **"Toothless!"** He freezes and looks at me, half hanging off the beam. I go to get up, but feel something off with my leg.

I don't notice Toothless drop down and walk over. Instead, I throw off the covers. My breath catches. In place of my lower left leg is a wood and metal prosthetic. Then everything comes back to me. The finals. Getting caught. Getting officially disowned and outcast. Getting a team together. Rushing to save the tribe. A pain in my leg before falling into the fire.

Toothless is nuzzling my side, purring. I take several deep breaths and try to calm down. **"Okay, okay..."** I swing my legs over the side of the bed and set them on the floor. Toothless takes a moment to sniff the prosthetic before looking at my face.

A few more deep breaths later, and I'm using the bed post to stand up. I shake a little bit, but keep my balance. I take a step and the same thing happens. Another, and I'm falling forwards. Toothless uses his head to catch me. **"Thanks, bud."**

Using him as a crutch, I make my way to the front door. I pull it open to see several dragons milling about outside. **"Why are they here?"**

 **"To see their hero."** Zander comes up beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder. Sharpshot sees me. **"The Savior is awake!"** This gets their attention. Soon, every dragon in the area has their eyes on me.

Zander leads me down the steps while Sharpshot lands on my shoulders, nuzzling me. I absentmindedly return it while watching the approaching dragons.

 **"Go on, say hi."** I look at Zander, then back at the dragons gathered around. I take a small step forwards. **"U-uh, hi?"** I get many nods in response. Zander chuckles.

**"Well Hiccup, you did it. You brought and end to the raids and peace to the dragons."**

**"R-really?"**

He nods. **"Yep. Ended in a rather big explosion."**

"Hiccup! You're awake!" Some dragons move over to let Gobber through. He seems nervous, but is taking being around the dragons rather well. He walks up and gives me a bone-crushing hug. Sharpshot squeaks and jumps onto Toothless.

"H-hi Gobber. C-can't breathe."

He lets me go. "Ah, sorry lad." I wave it off while regaining my air.

"So, what do you think of the leg? It's my handiwork, with a bit of Hiccup flare thrown in. Think it'll do?"

I take another look at the leg. "Eh, I might make a few tweaks..." He gives a booming laugh. Zander hands me something. "Here, the old ones got damaged so we figured you'd want a new one."

I look at the bundle in my arms and see it's the saddle and tail fin. Or at least a recreation of it. I smile when I see the red Night Fury painted on the black fin.

"Took some donated scales and worked it into the leather. Should be much harder to catch on fire now." I look at the both of them. "T-thank you." I turn to Toothless. **"So, wanna go for a ride?"** He licks my face.

\- - - -

After a nice flight around the woods, I land in front of the house to see Gothi standing there with a mix of exasperation and fondness.

 **"Hi Gothi. What's up?"** She whacks me with her staff then starts writing.

_'You need to stay off your leg, the stump is still healing.'_

**"O-oh. Sorry, Gothi. I was just really excited to go flying again."** She just shakes her head and, with a smile, leads us into the house. She has me sit on one of the chairs and gets Gobber to help me take off the prosthetic.

Gobber gives me tips for keeping the stump dry and basic care instructions. While he does that, Gothi rubs some more ointment on it and makes sure it hasn't gotten infected. Zander comes in just as they finish up.

"Take care laddie. Let me know if you need any help with it, alright?"

"I will Gobber, thanks." He walks out the door and is soon followed by Gothi after she finishes packing her things.

**"So, uh, what happened while I was out?"**

Zander sits down next to me. **"A few things. After I found you and Toothless, I brought the both of you back here so Gothi could treat your leg. After that I had to go back to Dragon Island to pick up Gobber, Mulch and Bucket."**

**"Wait, you had to go back? Why didn't they come with you?"**

**"I think they got separated from their dragons after the fight was over. I had to get you guys out of there since I'm not sure what Stoick would have done if he got you first."**

So Stoick still doesn't believe it. **"What was the tribes reaction to all of it?"**

**"Most everyone will agree that dragons can be made assets of some kind and are grateful to you for saving them from certain doom."**

**"That's nice. What about the rest?"**

**"Anyone who doesn't think that are the people who were the worst to you before. The teens seem to accept it, but Snotlout is on the fence. Astrid is swearing bloody murder and is most likely going to try and behead one of us when they get back."**

**"Wait, they aren't back here yet?"**

He looks at me. **"You do remember the entire fleet getting roasted, right?"**

Ah. That could complicate it. **"Why didn't they come back with the dragons?"**

**"Most would have said no, and Stoick would have forbid it. Speaking of Stoick, I think he sees the dragons as tools or weapons of war. So while he may give them a chance, it won't be for peace. It will be for new weapons."**

**"Of course he would think that."**

**"Yeah. Last time I went to check on them, they had the salvaged boats almost put together, so they should be back here soon."**

**"Oh. How long was I out, exactly?"**

**"Nine days."**

Huh. It feels much shorter than that. Oh well. **"What now?"**

**"Two options for that. Either we can stay and try to convince the tribe again, or we can up and leave. Find another island to stay on and try to convince other tribes."**

So back to the stay or leave plan. **"What do you think we should do?"**

**"Personally? I say we try again. Most of the tribe saw what we did. And since the raids are over, people may be more willing to accept them. Plus we still have that fall back plan of challenging the chief."**

**"Right. That will probably work best."**

He nods. **"Though if it does come to fighting Stoick, you aren't going to be joining the fun. Your leg needs time to heal and you need time to get use to the prosthetic. They should get back way before either of those are done."**

**"What about Spitelout?"**

**"I'll just fight him too. The main issue is gonna be getting the dragons accepted. While everyone saw what we did, not all of them may believe dragons are different."**

**"Right. You know, if you do win, it will be the first time in Berk's history that someone other than a Haddock will be chief."**

He stops to think. **"Huh. Yeah, it will be. Eh, these things happen, no big deal."**

We spend the rest of the day talking. He told me about what I missed and our new dynamic with the dragons. Apparently I'm the new alpha since the dragons and Toothless insist it was me who killed the Queen even though it was Toothless that did all the work. He did get the position of Queen, though, which is just below me. It also implies that we're a thing, which I'm not sure how to feel about. Zander was made the consort since he's my Guardian and is known as the peacekeeper all over the archipelago.

Zander had me meet all of the dragons. It was a very weird feeling when they started bowing to me. I told them it wasn't necessary, but they insisted, saying I deserved it. It's probably going to be the hardest thing to get use too out of all this. The dragons are also looking much better according to Zander. Under the former Queen, they couldn't get enough food for themselves. Now they can fish whenever they want. Barf and Belch even got some of them to help Mulch and Bucket get a better catch.

They've stayed away from the village, and will keep it that way until the rest of the villagers get back. No need to divide the village so soon. It wasn't until two days later that the patched up boats were spotted on the horizon.

\- - - -

(Normal POV)

The boats arrived mid-morning the next day. Gobber was again at the docks waiting for them. The four boats that were overflowing with Vikings and ready to fall apart hit the pier, and started dispatching. When Stoick got off, he went straight for Gobber, grabbing his shoulders. "What's the damage?"

Gobber just raised his brow. "What damage? What are ya talkin' about?"

Stoick had to keep from shaking him. "The dragons! How much damage have they done to the village?"

Gobber pried his hands off. "The dragons haven't done anythin'. Haven't even stepped foot in the village."

Anyone could tell Stoick didn't believe him, and if they couldn't, they way he took off up the ramp would have given it away. Gobber just sighed and hobbled after him.

When Stoick reached the top of the walkway, he wasn't quite sure what would greet him. He figured that either the dragons would be lounging everywhere, having taken over. Or that everything would have been burned to the ground, only ash and dust left over. What he did find was a perfectly intact village, with no dragons in sight.

He just stood and stared until Gobber caught up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I told you, Stoick. No dragons, nothin' wrong."

Astrid was in much the same state as Stoick. She has assumed the traitors would have destroyed everything, but here they were in an untouched village. It seemed only them two were worried, since everyone else just kept walking, everything alright with the world.

"Where are they?"

Both men turned to her. "Where are who?"

"The traitors."

Gobber sighed and ran a hand down his face. This was going to be a long day. "Not here, lass. And I wouldn't call them traitors, considering they saved your life."

Astrid scowled. While she knew both Hiccup and Zander betrayed them, her honor was demanding she pay them back for keeping all of them from turning into ash.

The next few hours consisted of everyone reuniting with those that stayed behind and getting much needed rest. It wasn't until that afternoon when things started to get interesting.

Hiccup, Toothless, and Zander, with Zim on his shoulders, all walked straight to the plaza, gathering a large crowd as they walked. The reactions they got were expected. Many looked in awe or fear at seeing the 'Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death' walk straight through town. Others looked tense, gripping their weapons but not drawing them.

The group of four all stood and waited for Stoick to arrive. It wasn't long until he was barging through everyone to the front of the crowd. Once through, he took a few steps closer, but stayed well out of range of any melee attacks.

"You're risking proper banishment by being here."

Zander rolled his eyes. "Really, Stoick? We saved your lives! That should at least give us a chance to explain."

The crowd gave their agreement, and not even the chiefs stare could stop it. He sighed.

"Very well. We will hold a trial in the Great Hall. You may explain yourselves there."

Astrid, once again, had to give her two cents. "No!" Everyone turned to look at her.

"They're traitors to everyone! To the Viking way! They need to be executed!" Her father and Gobber came and dragged her off, with her shouting curses and insults the entire way.

After she was gone, people started moving again. The small group was the first to enter, taking their place in front of the council table. Zim and Toothless were both looking around, having never been inside before. They both growled at the statue of a dragon being impaled, but left it alone for now. While Zim kept looking, Toothless curled around both humans protectively, growling low in his throat as more people started coming in.

Hiccup was just as tense, knowing they wouldn't be able to get out easily. Zander was scanning the crowd, seeing who they would need to worry about should things go south.

Soon, everyone was inside and the council members seated. The doors closed with a final boom, and the meeting began. Gobber, having prepped for this, started.

"Hiccup Horrendous, formerly Haddock, the Third and Zander Dragtson, you have been accused of treason against the tribe for sparing the enemy and siding with the dragons in war time. This trial will determine if you are guilty, or innocent, with all of Berk as witness."

Stoick stood. "Thank you, Gobber." Said man nods and sits back down.

"Here's how this will work. I or another council member will ask you a question. You will answer quickly and honestly. Failure to do so will result in immediate banishment or execution. Understood?"

Both boys nodded, and their dragons nodded too, even though it wasn't really needed.

"Would one of you like to start us off?" Gothi stood and stepped forwards. "Elder Gothi shall ask the first question."

She steps forwards and starts writing in a sand pile left there just for her. Gobber comes over to translate. "She asks if you two did what you did in the hopes of benefiting Berk."

Hiccup answers. "Yes. All we wanted to do was end the raids, which we did." Gothi nods and sits back down.

Mildrew steps up. Everyone had to hold in a groan. "Ye bring devil spawn in here! Ye have turned against all Viking ways!"

Stoick interrupts him. "A question, Mildrew. If you don't have one, sit back down."

He huffs before getting on with it. "How could ye betray all our traditions?"

Zander answers this time. "Both of us saw that they weren't working. Considering the war had been going on for three hundred years it should have been a clue something was wrong. We chose to try a different approach, and it worked."

Mildrew scowls but sits down. Spitelout steps up. "Boyo, you were disowned and outcast. Why did you fight for us? You had no reason to."

"Because I knew you were all sailing to your deaths. We knew what was on that island, and that we could only beat it with dragons on our side. I tried showing you all, but none of you listened until it was too late."

He nods and sits back down. Bucket steps up and before Mulch can grab him and asks a question. "Have you seen Barf? I couldn't find him this morning."

Hiccup and Zander look at each other, then back at Bucket. "Don't worry, him and Belch are just fine. Just taking an afternoon nap." Bucket nods gleefully and lets Mulch pull him back down.

Ernid Ingerman, Fishlegs' father, steps up. "Where are the dragons? They all left with you, and went in the direction of Berk."

"In the forests." This had people murmuring. The dragons were all just outside the village. Ernid asks another question. "Are they tame?"

Hiccup can't stop himself from his snappy reply. "They aren't mindless animals that one can tame. They're intelligent creatures that make wonderful companions." He hugs Toothless around the neck, and the dragon purrs reassuringly.

He nods and sits. Stoick steps up. "Will they fight for us?"

Zander steps forwards. "That depends. What do you plan on using them for?"

Stoick scowls, but remains calm. "The battle against the Red Death has shown us that the dragons can be tamed, and used as effective tools for combat. So can they-"

"They. Are. Not. Tools! They are living, breathing creatures, just like us." Everyone steps back at Hiccups outburst.

"Treat them like a tool, they will do the same. Or worse, turn on you and leave." Zander continues for him.

Everyone looks at each other at that. "Does anyone have any more questions?" At the lack of answer, he takes that as a no.

"Very well. You four are dismissed. Come back here in one hour for our decision." The two boys nod and walk out, Toothless right behind them. When the doors shut, chattering begins.

Everyone else starts leaving slowly, still talking. Once the doors shut again and only the council is left, they start talking.

\- - - -

The group is headed back to Zander's house when they hear the other teens following them. It was rather easy with how loud they were.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Duh it is! Think of all the destruction we could do!"

"All the people we could prank."

"Not to mention seeing an actual live Night Fury!"

"Come on Snotman, don't say your scared."

"Pff. Of course not. Watch."

While they were talking, the forge came up. Hiccup and Toothless went inside, while Zander walked around the building, out of sight. The teens, thinking they had them cornered, went straight in.

"Yo Hiccup! What're you doing, my man?"

Hiccup raised a brow. "Setting the sun on fire, what does it look like I'm doing?"

Tuffnut, in true Thorston fashion, missed the sarcasm. "Wait, really?"

Ruffnut shoved him out of the way. "We want a dragon. One that can create all the destruction!"

Snotlout shoves her out of the way. "I want a Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best dragon for the best Viking."

Fishlegs shoves him out of the way. "Is that really a Night Fury?" He goes to take a step closer, but freezes up when Toothless starts growling.

Hiccup just rolls his eyes and pats Toothless' head. "Yes, he's a Night Fury, and no, he doesn't like strangers getting in his business."

Fishlegs nods rapidly and seems content to just stand there watching him. Toothless shifts uncomfortably. "So what do you guys want?"

"Dragons, duh." Is the unanimous answer. Hiccup sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, right now, no dragons. That isn't going to happen until after the council's decision. And no, you won't find them by sneaking into the woods. All of them are on orders to stay out of sight, and with how loud you people are, they will have plenty of time to get out of the way."

He gets collective groaning. "Oh come on, cousin! Why you gotta be so boring?"

Everyone just looks at him. He looks back. They keep looking. He keeps looking back. Everyone facepalms. "Snotlout, I'd hardly call befriending and riding a Night Fury boring."

"Yeah, idiot. That's the opposite of boring."

"Which is not boring."

Hiccup sighs. "If that's all, I'll just be leaving."

He makes for the door, but then Snotlout gets in his way. He ignores Toothless' warning growl. "Nu-uh. You aren't leaving until we get some dragons."

Zander takes that time to come in, trapping them between us. "Two things Snotface. One: Hiccup can't get the dragons without leaving. Two: Do you really want to deal with the angry Night Fury?"

Snotlout takes this time to actually look at Toothless. He pales at the absolutely murderous glare he's getting. "Y-yeah. I could totally take him. Easy." Toothless lets out a small roar. Snotlout shrieks and tries to run. His face meets Zander's chest.

"Uh-huh. Let me know when you grow some backbone. Would love to see you get dismembered while screaming like a girl." Zander shoves him out of the way, then moves aside for Hiccup and Toothless to pass.

"Don't follow us. Nothing is going to happen with the dragons until after the trial." Zander walks out.

Tuffnut starts laughing. "Oh man! You should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!"

Ruffnut joins him. "Yeah man. Totally manly."

Fishlegs is snickering, but quickly stops when Snotlout shoots a glare at him.

"Whatever. Who needs a dragon anyways?"

They all look at him again. He looks back. They keep looking. He keeps looking back. More facepalms.

\- - - -

Everyone is back in the Great Hall for the results. The group of four is back in the middle, standing tall. Once it quiets down, Stoick stands.

"After much discussion, it has been decided..." He looks back at his council. He gets several nods. "...that your outcast status shall be removed and you shall be allowed back into the tribe."

They look at each other. One thing down, now for the next. "However, the dragons shall not be allowed into the village, and must be removed from the island."

Hiccup just looks at him in shock. Zander speaks up for him. "May we ask why they won't be allowed?"

"Simple. We cannot trust the dragons. They have been the bane of our village for centuries. Mindless beasts will simply cause more problems in the long run."

Hiccup clenches his fists, but before he can say anything, Zander shushes him. "What do the people think? Surely they get a say in this?"

Stoick glares at him for a moment before answering. "This is a council decision. The dragons will not stay."

He gets some angry murmuring from that. Hiccup and Zander look at each other and nod. "The people don't seem to happy with that. Who of you would like to have the dragons as allies?"

He gets much cheering from that. Stoick scowls. "They shall not be allowed in. That is final."

Zander smirks. "Oh? Just how final?"

Stoick catches on. "What do you mean?"

Zander takes a step forwards. "I challenge you, Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk, for the position of Chief due to your inability to listen to your people."

Everyone gasps at that. Even Gobber and Gothi, since this was a private plan. Stoick glares at him with clear hatred. "I deny this challenge."

"So you would go against your own traditions just to have your way? Not much better then us then, huh?"

Stoick holds to his answer, but soon the angry looks of the people have him agreeing. "Fine. I accept your challenge. We will have it first thing in the morning, at the dragon training arena. Deal?"

Zander gives a smug grin. "Deal."

With that said, the small group leaves. Slowly, everyone follows them. Soon, the only ones left are Stoick and Gobber.

"Well, that was an interesting turn of events."

Stoick rounds on him. "You knew!"

Gobber throws his hand and mug up. He loses the rest of his mead. "Nope. Didn't know a thing."

Stoick scowls again before leaving. If that boy thinks he will win, he has another thing coming.


	20. Duels and Dragons

(Normal POV)

The arena was packed once more the next morning. Stoick and Zander stood at opposite ends of the arena with Gobber between them. Hiccup was resting on Toothless' side by the gate with Zim in his lap and Sharpshot on his shoulders. Astrid and Spitelout are across from them. They both were there to make sure the other didn't interfere.

Once everyone was there, Gobber began.

"Alright you lot, quiet down! This duel is between Chief Stoick The Vast and Zander Dragtson for the position of Chief. The fight shall end when one pins, disarms, or hits a vital spot on the other. No dismemberment or fatal hits allowed. Interference will be punished." He says this with a pointed look at Astrid. She just scoffs and glares at Hiccup. "Are the participants ready?"

Stoick and Zander take out their weapons. An double bladed axe against a double ended spear. They both nod. "Then...go!"

Much like Hiccup's test with Zander, both started circling each other. Stoick is showing contained rage, while Zander is giving off an aura of calmness, and perhaps a hardly noticeable smug grin.

After circling a few times, Zander gets started. "Come on Stoick, your not scared, are you?" Stoick grits his teeth, but doesn't take the bait. Zander rolls his eyes. "What are you waiting for? Afraid I might beat you?"

This time Stoick does fall for it. He lets out a battle cry and charges, much faster than one would assume for his size. Zander stops and lets him come.

He blocks the swing, and pushes Stoick back with one of his own. Stoick backs up farther out of range. They start circling again. "Come now, Stoick. Surly you want to finish what you started back at the nest?"

Stoick charges again, and Zander blocks. Before he can get away, Zander takes another swing and hooks the axe and starts pulling. He gets Stoick a bit off balance, but can't take the axe away.

Zander, copying what Hiccup did, pushes forwards, forcing Stoick to fall back. He starts throwing swing after swing, keeping Stoick on the defensive. The circle around the arena, Stoick constantly moving backwards to avoid Zander's spear. Then Stoick makes a wrong move and Zander catches his neck. Instead of stopping though, Stoick uses Zander's pause to push back.

"Hey! I won!"

"If you won I would have stopped!"

Stoick then starts forcing Zander back, ignoring the shouts to stop from Gobber. As they pass Astrid a shield comes out of no where and trips Zander up. Stoick lunges and makes a strong downward swing.

Zander barely moves in time. Stoick shoves forwards and goes for another swing. Zander catches the axe and kicks him in the gut, loosening Stoick's hold on the axe enough for Zander to pull it out of his hands. He takes his spear and the axe and swings, catching Stoick's neck again.

Silence reigns. Gobber comes over with some guards who grab Stoick and tie his hands behind his back. "Astrid, did you throw that shield?"

"What if I did?"

"Tie them both up too."

More guards come over and restrain her and Spitelout as well. Gobber dismisses them to the jail cells to wait for punishment.

Gothi comes down and approaches Zander with a plate of charcoal. He kneels down for her so she can reach, and she puts the tribal markings on his face. After she backs up, he stands, looking at everyone in attendance.

"Long live the Chief!" Gobber's cheer is slowly picked up by the crowd, and soon everyone is cheering for him. When they quiet down, Zander starts talking.

"Thank you. I'm sorry that it had to come to this, I know how much all of you liked having Stoick as chief. But I also know many of you saw how much his obsessions and stubbornness were hurting the tribe, more than helping. And with recent events, it came to a head. With my new position as chief, I plan on bringing a new age to our tribe. One where instead of fighting the dragons, we have them as our allies!"

Many cheer at that, though some look skeptical. "I can see not all of you are convinced, and I can't blame you. I mean, look at me. My entire family was killed in one night thanks to a dragon. And I know many of you have lost someone to the dragons as well. But if anyone is to blame for their deaths, it is the Red Death, the monster that you saw at the nest. As Hiccup and I tried telling you, that dragon was the reason for the raids. She was able to control the dragons, forcing them to steal food for her. With her gone, we will not need to worry about another raid again!"

Many look excited at the prospect of no more raids. Who wouldn't really, with how much this tribe was hit. "Now, first order of business. Those of you who are interested, please meet Hiccup and I in the plaza in two hours. We wish to show you a whole new side to the dragons many have never seen before. Those who don't, you may go about your business."

Many more people cheer before going about their days. As they leave, Gobber comes over and pats Zander on the back. "Well, for your first speech, that wasn't too bad."

He rolls his eyes. "Gee, thanks, Gobber." They walk over to Hiccup. "Alright, I'm putting you in charge of the demonstration."

Hiccup nods. "What about having the other riders help? They could do the introductions."

"I'll leave how it goes down up to you." Zander puts a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do fine. I mean, look at how well you did back at the nest. You were giving out orders like a true leader."

Zander walks away to leave Hiccup to his thoughts. Gobber pats him as he walks by and Zim hurries after them to stay with Zander. Hiccup looks to Toothless.

**"Well bud, looks like we have some work to do."**

Toothless croons and nuzzles him. They walk out of the arena together.

\- - - -

(Later, Jail Cells)

Stoick is rather angry. Granted, he's always angry, but right now, more so. Not only did his plan of killing Zander fail, Astrid and Spitelout were arrested too. Now his people have turned against him and locked him up and made Zander Chief!

Astrid was also angry. Like Stoick, she's always angry, but with her sanity draining out of her ears, it's only gotten worse. She wanted so badly to just kill them all, but was forced to watch instead. Then she jumped at the opportunity to get rid of them, only to be shot down again. How could her own people do this to her? It went against everything they believed!

Spitelout is just annoyed. They had no proof that he was involved and threw him in here anyways. What really bothers him though is that they could make a child chief. And one that supports dragons of all things. Soon enough the people will come to their senses and come begging for Stoick to help them.

None of them had to wait long for Zander to arrive. He came with two guards and Zim on his shoulders. He walks up to Stoick. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

"You should not be chief. You will bring ruin to us all with those beasts." He gestures to Zim. Zander scowls. "Change happens, Stoick. You need to get over yourself and accept it. If you can't, you will be left behind."

Stoick grips the bars. "Those devils took my wife!"

"And they took my entire family!" Zander's outburst has him backing up a little. "You aren't the only person who lost someone to the dragons, Stoick. Some lost much more than you. You still have family left, and you pushed him aside in your own selfish desire for revenge."

He turns to Astrid before Stoick can answer. "Do I even want to hear your excuse?"

She straightens. "You're a tra-"

"Nope. Don't care." 

He turns to Spitelout. "So, what's your excuse?"

"You shouldn't be chief, boyo. It would've been a good think if he killed you."

"I'm going to take that as a confession."

He turns and walks off. "By the way, you all are going to be having a trial here soon. I'll let you decide if you want one for all of you at once, or separately. If you want to talk, tell one of the guards and I'll swing by when I get a chance."

He walks out the doors, both guards right behind him. "If they ask for anyone besides me, let me know. I want to make sure they don't try anything." The guards nod and take their positions at the door.

\- - - -

(Two Hours Later - Town Plaza)

Hiccup and the other four riders were in the plaza. They had a large platform set up so they would have enough room for the dragons that would be coming.

Zander walked up and stood in front of the crowd that had gathered. It looked like at least two thirds of the village was here. "Hello, everyone. Thank you all for coming, and giving the dragons a chance. As you should remember, these five people and I all came and helped kill the Queen at the nest. If not for us, and most importantly Hiccup, you would all be dead right now."

He got a few chuckles at that, though most looked unconformable. "So now Hiccup will be showing you all the true side of dragons. Hiccup, all yours."

He steps back so Hiccup can take over. Nervously, he does. "H-hi everyone. Uh, so like he said, this is too show you how dragon really are. To start, I've asked them to call their dragons here."

Hiccup turned to look at the others. Gothi was first. She took out a small rattler and shook it a few times. Meatlug then flew up from the nearby treeline and landed next to her. Gothi smiled and pet her some. Then Gobber was next. "Oi Beastie! Come to papa!" He was answered by a short roar before Hookfang came over. He looked rather annoyed and made sure to 'accidentally' push Gobber over. "Hey! Don't give me that, dragon."

"Gobber, he might like you more if you called him by name." Hiccup said with his head in his hand.

"Eh, he'll get use to it." Hookfang snorted in response.

"Whatever. Mulch, Bucket?" The two men looked at each other, then the forest. "Barf! Where are you?"

"Belch, could you come here please?"

The Zippleback then smoothly jumped over the treeline and glided to a stop right behind both of them. Bucket promptly clobbered Barf with a hug. Mulch simply watched and pat Belch when he lowered his head. Hiccup looked to Zander, who smirked. Taking a breath, he let out a very real dragon roar. Looking at the audience, they seemed a mix of shocked, scared, and impressed. Stormfly quickly shot out of the trees and almost missed the platform from how fast she was going. Zander chuckled and gave her a good scratch when she got her balance.

Hiccup turned back to the crowd. "The Book of Dragons says that a dragon will always go for the kill. Looking at them, do you think that's true?"

People started talking and looking at each other. "Now, before we keep going, how about you properly meet Toothless?" Hiccup shared a look with Zander, then let out a roar. The crowd had the same reaction as they did with Zander. Instead of coming from the trees like the other dragons, Toothless jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he made it to the platform, where he bound over to Hiccup. After giving him a good hug, he turned back to the crowd. "Everyone, this is Toothless. Toothless, everyone." Toothless looked at the mostly fearful faces of the people, then looked away, giving a snort.

Hiccup just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he's not big on strangers. Now, who wants to meet some dragons?"

As soon as the question was out of his mouth, the Twins shot forwards, quickly climbing up and skidding to a stop right in front of him. "Give us the Zippleback."

"Think of all the destruction we could do!"

"All the pranks we can try!"

"All the-"

"Guys!" They both turned to him. "This isn't a 'Come Get A Free Dragon' thing. All you guys are doing right now is meeting the dragons. And since you two are interested in the Zippleback, allow me to introduce you to Barf and Belch." Hiccup turned and pointed to the Zippleback in question. The Twins, slightly disappointed, walked over. And instantly perked up when both heads lowered to see them.

"Whoa, check out the teeth!"

"And the eyes. So bug-like."

"How about the scales?"

"Oh yes. So strange, yet so cool!"

It was very clear that both heads were very uncomfortable with the rough examination. Mulch and Bucket noticed this. "Hey, ease off! They don't like all the grabbing and pulling."

"Poor Barf. It isn't nice to grab like that."

Both heads were able to get out of the Thorston's holds and back with their riders, getting much needed scratching from them.

"Right. I think that's good. Anyone else?" Fishlegs stepped up.

"U-uh, could I meet one?"

"Sure. Come on up and take your pick." Fishlegs moved around to the stairs and ambled up. He looked at each of the dragons in turn, before settling on Meatlug. Slowly, he moved towards her.

"N-nice dragon. That's a n-nice dragon..." Deciding he was going to slow, Gothi walked forwards and started hitting his back. He yelped and took several rapid steps, before freezing. He had stopped just a few inches from Meatlug. She decided to take the initiative and started rubbing against him, a grate-like purring coming from her. Fishlegs untensed with another whack from Gothi, and started hesitantly petting Meatlug. As he kept it up, his geeky side started coming out.

"Your scales are so rough. Tightly packed together. Bumpy, like sandpaper..." Hiccup decided to let him be until either Gothi or Meatlug got tired of his ramblings. "Anyone else?"

Now that the ice had mostly been broken, several more people started coming up. All of them were nervous, but after some prodding and deliberate shoving, they warmed up. The two dragons they were the most cautious around were Hookfang and Toothless, who had a decent laugh about it later.

Once all was said and done, Zander stepped back up. "Thank you all again for coming. We appreciate you giving the dragons a chance. Now, I would like to ask you all a question." Everyone quieted down to listen. "Who here would be willing to let the dragons start exploring the village? Right now, all of them are in the woods, and several would like to meet you."

Many started talking before raising their hands. Zander counted just over half. "Since not all of you are in agreement, I will limit the amount so you don't feel overwhelmed. You may go about your days, thank you."

The people started dispersing while Zander turned to the others. "Well, that went better than I hoped."

Hiccup nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it did. Uh, so how many dragons are going to be here, then?"

Zander took a moment to think. "Well, we want enough for people to get use to their presence, but not so many they feel overwhelmed. I'd say...twenty or thirty should be good for how many people are here. I'll let you take care of deciding which dragons are allowed in."

He walked off and started asking people to help take down the platform. Gothi got on Meatlug and she gave her a ride back to her hut. Gobber pat Hookfang rather roughly on the snout, and got a nip in return. Both left while grumbling under their breath. Mulch and Bucket said their goodbyes and men and dragon went their separate ways.

**"I hope this all works out in the end."**

**"It will. You just need to have a little confidence."**

Hiccup and Toothless both walked back to the forest, wondering what the next days will bring.


	21. Punishing Past Mistakes

(Normal POV)

It has been a week since the demonstration. So far, many people are warming up to the dragons, though several incidents have happened where one or the other will fall back to instinct and make a wrong move. Zander has put Hiccup in charge of all things dragon, with the other riders giving assistance where possible.

Mulch and Bucket have shown the other fisherman just how helpful the dragons are when gathering fish, which is a good thing since more food is needed for the dragons themselves. Gobber has done an excellent job separating fighting pairs. He's found a good whack to both heads works rather well. Gothi has had a good amount of work because of it, but has been proving essential for the medical aspect of it all, with Meatlug giving more pointers and advice.

The two troublemakers, namely Stoick and Astrid, are still locked up, awaiting trial. Spitelout has been put on three months of hard labor and taken off the council after admitting to knowing about the plan to interfere and doing nothing to stop it. The other troublemakers, the Twins, have been having fun being able to prank the dragons. This has lead to them being set on fire several times, landing them in Gothi's hut. Zander and Hiccup agree this is suitable punishment.

"People of Berk!" Those milling around turn to look at Zander. "Tomorrow at noon, the trial for Stoick and Astrid will begin. You all are invited to attend. Please spread the word. Thank you." He got various agreements and people kept going about their day. Hiccup came over, with his shadow Toothless right behind him.

"How is the trial going to go?"

"Well, they still haven't decided if they want one large trial, or two separate ones. But the basic flow of it will be similar to what we did. They stand in the center, the council asks questions, we decide their punishment. For Astrid and probably Stoick you'll be called up since they both did something or other to kill or injure you."

"Oh. Yay."

Zander puts a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, it'll be fine. Anything else you needed?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if the Kill Ring was going to be used for anything?"

"Not that I can think of, why?"

"I was thinking that to help people to adjust to the dragons, we could have a class about them. Like, learning how to care for them, how to ride them, bonding with them, things like that."

Zander takes a moment to think. "...That could work. Having a dedicated time and place for it. Though it will need some redesigning to work properly. Namely getting rid of that chain roof..." He looks back to Hiccup. "I'll see what I can do about making that place a little more dragon friendly. For now, you can have the lessons in the plaza."

 **"Yeah. That place is bad."** Zim pipes up from behind Zander head. He chuckles. "What he said. I've got to chat to our 'guests' in the prison."

"Alright. I'm going to go check the arena out, maybe make some plans for it. Do you think you could send someone to help?"

"Sure. The first thing that should be done is cleaning that place. You think you can handle that?"

All present know he means the smell and conditions if it. They aren't pleasant. "Yeah. We can. Right bud?"

 **"We can handle anything!"** They all share a laugh.

"Well, I need to go. See you later?"

"Yeah. Later." Both go their separate ways, one headed to the jails, the other to the Arena.

\- - - -

(Zander POV - Prison)

"Haven't asked for anyone?" The guards shake their heads.

I walk in flanked by both of them. Astrid is instantly on guard, with Stoick glaring. "So, enjoying your time?" More glaring.

"Right. Well, I'm here to tell you your trial will be tomorrow at noon." Still glaring.

"Have you decided how you want to have it? Separate or together?"

"We shouldn't be on trial at all." I look at Stoick.

"The people beg to differ. If it was up to me, you both would be off the island already."

"Your the chief, why don't you just do that?" I look to Astrid.

"Because I listen to my people, unlike some people." Stoick glares harder at that.

Silence for a few moments. "Well? Which is it gonna be?" Glares and silence.

"So I get to chose? How kind. Both of you will have separate trials then. Sound good?"

Silence.

"As I thought. Well, nice chat. The guards will pick you up a bit before noon." I turn to walk out.

"Why are you siding with the dragons?" I sigh and turn to Astrid.

"I'm obviously not siding with the dragons. I'm supporting them, yes, but not siding with them. If I was, I wouldn't have made the challenge for chief."

"But they hurt you. How can you trust them?"

"The same way I can trust other humans. Both races have the good and the bad. The dragons that raided us were forced to by a bad dragon. The dragon that killed my family was a bad dragon. The arena dragons and Night Fury are good dragons that helped save your lives. Zim here is a good dragon, and has never raided you before. You are a bad person for having tried to kill Hiccup because you were jealous. Stoick is a bad person for abusing his own son. Gothi is a good person for helping those she meets. Gobber is a good person for trying to cheer everyone up. Ones actions dictate my trust for them, not what they are."

"Dragons are nothing but devils! They cannot be trusted!" I turn and level a harsh glare at Stoick. He backs up a step.

"Let go of your hate and give up on revenge you idiotic man! Staying stuck in the past like that will only kill you in the future! Until you can realize that, you will only be hurting yourself." I turn and walk out with no more sudden stops. They are headed for their doom.

\- - - -

(Hiccup POV - Arena)

 **"What do you think bud? Can we make this work?"** I turn to Toothless, who has been busy sniffing everything he can get too.

**"Maybe. It will take a lot of work, but it will do."**

Since Zander has given the okay for us to use the arena for teaching about dragons, Toothless and I have decided to see what we should change.

**"I'm thinking that we could use the pens for storage. Take off the doors and add some shelves. Maybe even use them as temporary sleeping space for dragons to use."**

**"Make sure they get cleaned really good. They stink."**

**"Like I don't know that. I have a dragon nose too, you know."**

I get him to help me open the cage doors. The inside is really horrible. Blood and dung coat the floor and walls, and no light can get inside. To think the dragons were forced to live in here.

**"Yeah, a good cleaning is definitely in order."**

"Hey Hiccup!" We turn and see the other teens walking in.

"Uh, hey guys. What are you doing here?"

Snotlout scowls lightly. "Zander said we had to come help you clean this place."

"Yeah, so not fun."

"Who does he think he is, anyways?"

"Uh, the Chief?"

"Oh, right."

I roll my eyes. "Well, if you guys are here to help, then lets get started. The sooner we finish, the sooner you can leave."

They all perk up slightly at that. Soon, we have the cleaning supplies out and have two people in a cage scrubbing. I had to promise Toothless extra fish to get him to help. As we work, Gobber ambles in, Hookfang surprisingly in tow.

"Ah, there's my students. Couldn't help but come back here, eh? Wanting to relive the memories of battle?" Collective groaning is his response.

"As if! We almost died from your cruddy teaching methods."

"Eh, you're still in one piece. No big deal." I rather loudly clear my throat. "Ah, right. The rest of you are still in one piece though."

"Gobber, motivational speeches are not for you."

"You know you love me, toothpick."

"Whatever, meathead." We both give a laugh before Gobber gets serious.

"Lad, you shouldn't be movin' around on that leg o' yours so much. The skin is still raw."

"Ah, sorry, Gobber. Just been busy, lots of things to do with the dragons." I neglected to mention the stump was basically healed already. The most I got were bad aches. Or a flash of pain from stepping wrong.

"I know, Hiccup. Just worried about you."

I smile. "Thanks Gobber."

"So, what are you lot up too, then?"

Fishlegs answers. "Zander asked us to come clean the arena. He said Hiccup is going to use it for a dragon teaching class."

"Is that so?"

He nods. "Yeah! Think of it, we'll get to learn so much more about how dragons work! We could even write a whole new Book or Dragons!"

"Ugh, we don't care Fishface. Now get back to scrubbing. I'm not doing this all by myself."

While they keep talking, Hookfang ambles over to Toothless.

**"So, enjoying getting all dirty?"**

Toothless glares at him. **"I'm just helping Hiccup. I don't want him working so much with his leg."**

**"Hey! I had to bribe you with extra fish to help me!"**

Toothless looks away while Hookfang laughs.

**"So, how are you enjoying having a rider?"**

They all look over at Gobber, who just whacked Snotlout over the head for a stupid comment. **"He stinks, but is not so bad."**

 **"So you do like him."** Hookfang snorts.

**"As if. I tolerate him."**

I roll my eyes. **"Uh-huh, right. How is he treating you?"**

Hookfang thinks for a moment. **"Not bad. He makes sure to give me fish. I don't think he really knows what to do, though."**

**"Thought as much. That's part of the reason I'm going to be having classes, to help teach Vikings and Dragons how to act and take care of each other."**

He nods. **"That is good. Perhaps you could make something to help with riding? His clothes chafe my neck."**

**"Ah, that is probably a good idea. I doubt it's any more comfortable for him either."**

As the other two keep talking, I goes over ideas for different saddles. Each dragon will need a different type depending on both the dragon and rider. It's a good thing less metal work is going to be needed now. Much more time is going to be needed for the saddles.

\- - - -

(Normal POV - Next Day, Great Hall)

Once all of the tribe was gathered inside, Zander stepped forwards, Zim loyally on his shoulders.

"We will now start the trial for two members of this tribe for crimes they committed. Both will be done separately, back to back. Please bring Stoick Haddock forwards."

The guards bring Stoick forwards, his hands bound. "Stoick Haddock, do you swear on your life and honor to speak the honest truth?"

He glares. "Aye."

Gobber steps up. "Stoick Haddock, you have been charged with attempted murder of one of your own tribe members, the abuse of your son Hiccup, formerly Haddock, and conspiring and cheating in the official match for the position of chief."

"Thank you, Gobber." He sits.

"Those are rather big accusations. Can you prove them?"

"You will speak only when spoken too. And yes, I can. Will Hiccup please come up?"

Hiccup has to convince Toothless to stay at the bottom of the stairs when he comes up. 

"Hiccup, is it true that Stoick abused you?"

Hiccup takes a breath. "Yes, he would beat me at least three times a month."

"Did he ever have a reason too?"

"No, not always."

"How badly did he beat you?"

"That depended on how angry he was. He almost killed me a few times."

"Thank you, you may go back." Hiccup nods and rejoins Toothless, who instantly gives him a long lick across the face.

"I will now let the council members ask any questions they have."

Mildrew stands. "Ye all are traitors! He is the chief! Ye should all-"

"Mildrew, if you don't have a question, sit down. We don't want to listen to your ranting."

Mildrew scowls, but sits. Gobber stands next. "Why were you so hard on the lad, Stoick?"

"He was a failure. Could never do anything right."

"Did you even try to teach him?"

"Yes. He failed at that too."

Gobber sighs and sits back down. Ernid steps up. "Did you ever listen to your son?"

"He is not my son! And no, all he ever did is spit lies."

"Who did you listen too?"

"The other children. They never lied, like proper Vikings."

Gobber jumps up again. "You know that isn't true, Stoick! What about that one time the storage shed burned down? Hiccup wasn't even there!"

"Snotlout and the Thorston Twins said he did it. I didn't need any more proof."

"What about that Outcast attack? You didn't listen to Hiccup's warning about them! We would've been ambushed had he not told me."

"All he wanted was attention, nothing more."

Zander stops Gobber and has him sit back down. "I believe that is all we need to hear. Your punishment will be decided at the end of the trial. Please bring Astrid Hofferson forwards."

The guards swap them both. "Astrid Hofferson, do you swear on your life and honor to speak the honest truth?"

She grits her teeth. "I do."

Gobber reads the list. "Astrid Hofferson, you have been charged with several attempted murders on Hiccup, formerly Haddock, interference with an official event, refusal to follow a direct order, attacking a fellow tribe member without reason, and attempted theft."

"Thank you, Gobber." After he sits, everyone is expecting her to start blurting excuses, and are surprised when she stays silent. "Huh, actually listening for once. Good. Now, will Snotlout and the Thorston Twins please come up?"

Once all three are there, he asks his questions. "Is it true that you three helped corner and beat Hiccup outside his home?"

He gets three hesitant 'yes's.

"Who was the leader of the group?"

"Astrid." Ruffnut answers.

"Why did you go along with it? Snotlout first."

"At the time, I was angry with Us- I mean Hiccup for beating me in Dragon Training. When she asked us to help her, I agreed, but didn't think it would get that far."

"Ruffnut?"

"My brother and I just wanted in on the action, but regret letting it go so far."

"Tuffnut?"

"What she said."

"Why did none of you go back to check on him?"

Snotlout answers. "Because he's always survived before. We thought it would be the same that time."

"Do you regret what you did to him?"

He gets three firm 'yes's.

"Have you apologized?"

More 'yes's.

"Thank you. Any more punishment for your actions shall be decided by your parents and Hiccup himself. You may go back."

They all nod and leave. "Will Hiccup please come forwards."

This time he can't stop Toothless from joining him. "And Toothless, apparently. Anyways, how many times did she try to kill you?"

He thinks for a moment. Zander speaks up first. "That you need to think about it is all the answer we really need."

"At least six times."

"Right. Thank you, you may go back." They both head back. "I will now let the council members ask any questions they have."

Gobber steps up. "Lass, what possessed you to try and kill Hiccup?"

"He was cheating. That victory should have been mine."

Ernid steps up. "Do you have proof of this?"

She looks away. "No."

"What did you try to steal?"

"Hiccup's weapon."

"Why?"

"He doesn't deserve it."

Gothi steps up. Zander translates. "She says Hiccup needed the weapon to defend himself. She asks what you planned to do with it if you got it."

"Either destroy or use it."

The three nod and sit back down. "Any more questions?" They stay silent.

"Very well. Your punishment will be decided shortly." The guards come up and take her back.

"People of Berk, thank you for attending. You may go about your day until the council and I come to a decision regarding these two."

The guards and two on trial go back to the jails while the rest start milling about. The only ones left are the council.

"Alright, one at a time. What should the punishment be for Stoick?"

"None o' them deserve punishment! They all were helpin' Berk!"

"I don't think helping involves attempted murder, Mildrew." Gobber snaps back.

"Bah! You just sympathize wit' them! Look at that devil on yer back, it shouldn't be 'ere."

"Mildrew, unless you have something important to say, please shut up."

He grumbles but stays silent.

"That man is goin' off the deep end, he is." Mulch said.

"Who's goin' off the deep end?"

"Stoick is, Bucket."

"Oh, okay."

"He should be 'ere. Not you, boy."

"Mildrew, I will kick you off this council if you keep this up."

"Ye can't do that! The people will-"

"The people barely tolerate you. They won't have any objections."

"Bah! Idiots, the lot of ye."

Zander runs a hand down his face. _'Oh, this is going to be fun to deal with.'_

"Stoick isn't in his right mind right now. He's too caught up in his grief over Valka bein' taken to think straight." Gobber says.

"Is there a way to help him get past it? Since thirteen years doesn't seem to be enough."

"I don't know. After finding out Hiccup was so much like her, he just started goin' downhill."

"Then we need to find a way to help him. If he can't get past that, it won't be safe to let him in the village."

"Is there someone who he trusts that can help him through it?" Ernid asks.

"I doubt it, since he probably thinks all of us are against him."

Gothi taps Zander with her staff. "Yes?" She hands him a tablet which he reads over. "Hmm, that could work."

"What did she say?" Gobber asks.

"She thinks a few years of exile might be good."

"Exile?" Ernid asks.

"Yeah. Exile. It may help. Since he's so hung up on the dragons being the enemy, some time away from everything could do him some good."

"I agree. Ever since she was taken, he hasn't been able to relax, always working overtime to help the village. Somewhere away from the stress of village life should do him some good." Gobber says.

"Two years of exile on a nearby island with basic supplies. All in favor?" The majority of hands go up. "Alright. Now what about Astrid?"

"That girl is on the brink of insanity. You all saw the crazed look in her eyes, right?" Mulch asks. He gets several nods, even from Mildrew.

"Who's insane?"

"Astrid, Bucket."

"Oh. She's crazy too."

"That she is."

"Yes, I think we all can agree Astrid is past the point of no return. What do we do about it?"

"If she can't turn around, banishment may be the only option."

"I agree. She has been given plenty of time and chances to calm down, yet she refuses too."

"Alright, then all in favor of banishing Astrid from Berk?" Everyone raises their hands. "Banishment it is."

\- - -

After bringing everyone back into the Great Hall, Zander had the two convicted step forwards.

"The council and I have come to a decision regarding your punishment."

"Spit it out, boyo, we don't have all day."

"Do you want a worse punishment? You know all this is necessary to make it official."

Spitelout says silent. "Thank you."

He takes a breath. "Stoick Haddock, you will receive two years of exile on a nearby island as punishment for abusing your son, attempted murder, and cheating in an official event."

Many people gasp at that, though many seem to agree.

"And Astrid Hofferson, you are to be banished from Berk for several murder attempts, interference with an official event, and treason against the people of Berk."

Everyone is silent. Astrid's parents look heartbroken, but make no move to try and change the decision. Astrid, for her part, has no emotions on her face, just looking like a blank shell.

"You both shall have until morning to pack your things and say your goodbyes."

Zander nods to the guards. They cut the bindings loose on both of them. "If you cause any problems before then, you will be forced to leave with only what you have on your person. You are dismissed."

Stoick is scowling, but leaves. Astrid just stays where she is. Seeing she isn't moving any time soon, everyone else makes their way out. Soon, she is the only one left in the hall, so no one sees the single tear that falls down her cheek.

\- - - -

(Next Morning - Docks)

A large crowd is gathered at the docks. No problems were had the last day or night, and now Stoick and Astrid are prepared to leave. Stoick has several of his belongings and weapons, while Astrid's parents had to pack her things since she didn't leave the hall last night.

"You both will be given basic supplies that will last you at least a week of rationed properly. Stoick, you have been given a map with the island you are to spend exile on marked. We will send a scout over every two weeks to make sure you are still there and still alive. If you are found elsewhere, you are liable to get a longer sentence. Astrid, you are no longer allowed on Berk or it's surrounding waters. If you are found inside them, you are liable to execution. If it is discovered you are with Stoick or on the same island as him, you will be executed. Is this clear?"

He gets two nods. Stoick and Astrid both get into separate small one man boats. Astrid is the first to leave, slowly making her way across the ocean and conveniently in a different direction Stoick has to go in. A few minutes later and Stoick departs, steadily making his way to the island he will be calling home for the next few years.

As they leave, people start going back to their daily jobs. The last to leave are Hiccup, Toothless, Zander, Zim, Gobber, Gothi, and Astrid's parents. Zander turns to them. "I'm sorry I had to banish her. We don't blame you for doing a poor job of raising her, but she was too dangerous to let her stay here."

Agnis takes a deep breath. "It's alright, dear. You did what you had too." Her husband squeezes her hand. "She's right. You had to do what was best for the village, and we don't blame you for it." They both turn and walk back to the village.  


The rest stay for a while longer. "Why exile?" They look at Hiccup.

"He wasn't thinking straight. I think recent events dredged up the memory of your mother being taken, and he let his grief consume him. We hope time away from the village will help clear his head enough for him to see sense."

Hiccup nods and looks back out to sea. Zander pats him on the shoulder before leaving. Gothi squeezes his arm before calling Meatlug over to give her a ride.

"He'll be fine, lad. You know him, tough as can be."

"I know, Gobber. And...thank you."

"Eh? What for?"

"For being there for me. After Stoick dumped me off on you, you took the time to raise me when he wouldn't. So...thank you."

Gobber smiles. "Any time, lad. Any time."

\- - - -

As the days turned into months, people started to fall into a new routine. Without the need to worry about dragon attacks, they were able to focus more on other things. Less lumber was needed since all the houses had less of a chance to burn down, and food stores were filling to the brim with the extra food that the dragons were bringing in instead of taking.

Hiccup's Dragon Teaching class was going well. With the raids over with, people were much more receptive to working with them. With Zander's help, he was able to add dragons to the village defenses. Several more people became a rider and worked on reading their partners movements. Soon, seeing a dragon invoked a sense of relief instead of anger.

Gobber was almost put of of a job, but with the new need for a dragon dentist, he got right back to work. It also helped Hookfang was his first patient. Gothi kept right on teaching and learning in turn. Since she knew Dragonese, it was easy for Meatlug or another dragon to tell her about dragon culture that she didn't already know. Mulch and Bucket were the best fisherman with Barf and Belch's help, almost tripling their catch.

Zander was doing well as Chief. While not as effective at getting things done as Stoick, the people liked him much better since he had no obsessions hindering his judgement. He would also properly listen to them and ask for what they think might be a good way to handle a situation. He added Hiccup to his council as an advisor since he was in charge of the dragons.

Hiccup and Toothless were both getting better at leading the dragon side of things as well. Despite not thinking he was qualified for it, Hiccup was a natural leader, and was able to handle what came with ease and grace. Both boys also started getting a weird feeling around each other, but were too young to really know what it was, though it was rather obvious to on lookers what it was.

Looking over the village, Hiccup couldn't help but smile. While his hopes for true peace only started a few months ago, he was happy that it was still able to happen so soon. Zander pat him on the back and all four of them just watched the village go about it's day. While he knew that trouble would come soon enough, he was content to just enjoy what he had now. They would deal with what was to come together, as a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Sorry if it stops rather suddenly, but endings aren't my strong suit. I also had no idea where to have the story go from there, so...  
> I don't really plan on making a sequel or anything for this. I have a few ideas, but again, I wouldn't really know what to put in it.  
> But thanks again for reading!


End file.
